18 Dec Inner Planetary Travel

By: Lifebook Member Mike Kevorkian

I want to share a few things with you that have had some impact on my life in the past couple of weeks since my Lifebook Session.

First, I went through my VIP Membership 4th quarter goal planning. I got so much out of it that I decided to make everyone in my office do a similar exercise for business (money, production, lead generation etc). It was a total hit! I had everyone list their 5 biggies for the next 3 months and break each of them down. Then they were all required to get up and share their goals with the rest of the office the following week. Everyone was so pumped up today when we reviewed our 4th quarter goals – there was more excitement in that conference room today than I have seen in years! Every single person that works for me knows exactly what they want, what they have to do to make it happen and how to go get it. This one exercise has literally brought my entire company together and for the first time everyone feels like we are a team.

On another note I have always had this weird relationship with God…

Ever since I was a kid I always believed that He heard me when I talked to him. Not like some people toss a prayer up and say, ” I know God hears my prayers”, but like God stopped everything He was doing to pay his undivided attention to me whenever I had something to say, a question that needed to be answered or a weird thought.

Many times over the past 5 or 6 years I would be all bent out of shape and angry or depressed about something and feel pretty crappy, as we all do from time to time. Then I would look up, say, as I was driving and see a 40-something-year-old man who has clearly been disabled his entire life, walking down the street as best he could (which was painful to watch with all the effort that he had to put into simply WALKING), and I would immediately think to myself, “Kevorkian…. You don’t know what a problem is. You don’t have any problems”.

I always considered this my sign from God to take my head out of my ass and stop complaining or feeling sorry for myself and I instantly would. It never fails, anytime I feel down and out, regardless of where I am or what I’m doing, the very next place I put my eyes is on someone who has it SO MUCH worse than me that my problems don’t mean a damn thing anymore.

I have since decided to take a moment to experiment with what I am calling “Inner Planetary Travel” when I have a chance to do so. My Inner Planetary Travel consists of simply doing what we all do on a daily basis for work or social events etc. except that I do it with total strangers in passing. I actually take a brief moment of my time and go into “their world”. I want to share my last 2 experiences with you:

About 2 weeks ago I was at the gym trying to run my 230 lbs ass around the track as best I could when I got pissed off at how out of shape I was and cursed this whole “running” thing to hell. I was disappointed at my performance and how hard it was for me to run, thinking I should stick to a treadmill or elliptical machine or just go sit in the steam room if I really wanted to get a good sweat on for the day.

I’m on my third “run” lap growing more and more frustrated and exhausted when I’m about to pass a guy who’s walking on the OUTSIDE lane…! That’s the lane for runners like me and not guys like him who are just walking, okay…?

So I see this old guy in my way as I’m coming around the turn. He’s got shoulder length white hair wearing a gray sweat suit from the ’80’s and white gym shoes and he’s WALKING in the runners lane…! I come around the corner, pissed as I was for being fat, out of shape and tired of running, and guess what? I nearly tripped and fell – on his white cane of all things! Yes ladies and gentlemen, he was blind as a bat and walking on a track to get his exercise for the day. Absolutely amazing and inspiring, and humiliating for me to have to pass him with my big head full of stupid and negative thoughts. I don’t have problems, I have NO EXCUSE for not exercising everyday after seeing that.

After my 2nd pass I decided to stop running and walk along side him and have a talk. I learned that he has been blind his entire life and doesn’t feel like he’s missed out on much by not being able to see. He said, “It’s a lot like never having kids I guess. You never had ’em to begin with so what is there to miss?” He does have 2 grown children and his wife is the best thing that has ever happened to him. “If I could choose to see AND be 20 years old again OR have my wife and stay blind and old, I would take her without a question.” He said she was the best thing that ever happened to him, aside from being born and having the blessing of every day he has had to “live”. I thanked him for his time (on “his” planet earth) and went to get showered and ready for work.

The second scenario was just this past Sunday at Starbucks. I went in to get a coffee and was waiting in line when I saw a man and his 8 year old son sitting and having drinks while they laughed and played together. The “I don’t have any problems” thought came into my mind when I saw the mans son. He was completely bald due to his treatments for cancer. I walked over to them and playfully said to the kid, “It’s pretty cold out there today, where’s your hat?” He looked up with the biggest smile I ever saw and said, “My Dad has it right here,” as he pointed to the white sox baseball cap on the table next to them. His father seemed a little disturbed by my presence so I introduced myself, shook his hand and told him that I just came out of this amazing thing called Lifebook which has made me appreciate so many things about not only MY life, but LIFE as a whole. I was curious to know what was happening with his son since he seemed to be in such great spirits but was clearly not in great health. He explained to me that it was childhood leukemia and I told him that my father passed away from leukemia nearly 16 years ago. The most amazing point of all of this is that his son doesn’t even consider that he may lose his life, it’s all about having fun and being a kid even though he is going through one of the most horrific experiences a person could go through. His father has taken off of work to be sure that they spend every precious day together and, oddly enough, the whole experience has brought his wife, daughter and son so much closer. I stood up, shook the fathers hand again, gave his cute son a high five and told him that I expected to see him in there next year with a full head of black hair. He looked at me with another huge smile and said, “I have blonde hair though.” I said, “Okay, blonde it is then buddy. I’ll see you soon.” I thanked them both for their time (on “their” planet earth) and got in my car to go to work.

Thank you for reading this outrageously long story, and for those of you who haven’t consciously dabbled in “Inner Planetary Travel”, I highly recommend you give it a shot… It will change your life!

Yours In Success,

Michael R. Kevorkian