Drilling in the Message

“Make sure everybody in your boat is rowing and not drilling holes when you’re not looking.”

And “everybody” includes…you.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the old expression that goes along the lines of: “I am going to drill that message into you.”

Well…I suspect the Universe tried to do just that the other day. And I think I can safely now say: “I got it! Message received.”

Here’s what happened…

In a recent Good Men Project blog of mine, “Is the Master Valve Turned On?”, I wrote about my frustration with my home irrigation system—and how I thought it had been working all summer, when in fact the master valve wasn’t even turned on. And then, when I did finally discover this—and promptly turned the valve to the ‘on’ position—I then realized (a week later) there was a huge leak somewhere in the master valve and water was spraying all over the place. Sigh.

I am pleased to report that my irrigation system has now been fixed and is functioning beautifully.

But because I was so off my game—for more than a week—due to the irrigation issues…I have taken the time to do a little further reflecting. And I wonder if maybe, just maybe, there is a metaphorical lesson or two hidden in the master valve madness?

If so, here’s what I suspect the two possible metaphorical life lessons (for me) might be:

#1. Just as my irrigation system’s master valve was in the ‘off’ position, perhaps my…spiritual master valve, if you will, was also in the ‘off’ position? Just as there was no water getting through to my irrigation system, I wonder if maybe my faith valve—my openness to letting good things flow to me as a result of my daily efforts—had also been temporarily turned off? Because in hindsight, I think I had become way too busy and focused trying to MAKE things happen. But without the spiritual master valve of faith actually turned on, not much was happening.

#2. When the master valve of my irrigation system was finally turned on, there was obviously a serious leak somewhere, hence the water spraying all over the place. So I asked myself: “What might be leaking in my life? Or in me? Where might I be wasting an awful lot of valuable energy, thereby drastically reducing my overall effectiveness?”

This is the answer that came to me: my thoughts. I have been wasting WAY too much time and energy letting my racing thoughts repeatedly tumble down their habitual rabbit holes.

Case in point was when I was having morning coffee in my living room one Saturday morning—right in the midst of the irrigation madness—and the guy who lives next door decided to drill something. At 8 am. Yes, this was annoying and irritating…and not particularly considerate of him. But how I handled it was just plain stupid.

Instead of getting up and putting on my noise canceling earphones, I dramatically slammed all the windows shut—then spent the next four hours allowing my out-of-control monkey mind to make elaborate plans to sell my home and move. Ridiculous, yes. But perhaps understandable.

By that particular Saturday summer morning, I was overwhelmed & exhausted from trying to keep my damn garden watered. Plus I know from experience that the moment I hear an annoying noise from over the hedge, my noisy-neighbour fears kick in and my nervous system goes into high alert…then my mind runs off the races, or down the nearest rabbit hole.

The old trauma of spending seven wretched years living next door to the world’s loudest neighbours can still be triggered at the drop of a hat…or the hum of a power drill.

My point in all this?

The drilling noise itself only lasted for a few minutes that Saturday morning. My neighbour (he’s a nice guy!) did whatever he had to do in his little workshop, then got on with his day. And I got on with creating a huge (and extremely energy-intensive) drama in my head about the future…how I would have to sell my house and move and blah, blah, blah.

Or put another way, not only had I stopped rowing, I was drilling holes in my own damn boat!

But here’s the beautiful thing: we get to choose our thoughts. And if we no longer like the thoughts we’re having—or the exhausting rabbit holes they lead us down—then it is up to us to change them.

I don’t want to waste valuable time and energy anymore, thinking thoughts that no longer serve me.

So when the irrigation guy fixed the leak in the master valve, I made a promise to myself: I decided to fix the leak in my master valve, too. No more wasting precious time and energy on thoughts and thinking patterns that are not leading me anywhere productive or positive.

And I gotta say, since stopping this leak, I have a heck of a lot more energy now to direct towards the outcomes I want to help bring about…versus the ones I don’t. And on that note, since my spiritual master valve is ON again, I know I don’t have to try and do it all myself. I just have to show up each and every day and do my best…then sit back and enjoy all the good things that come my way, learn from the challenging stuff—and put on my noise cancelling headphones when and if the drill starts up again next door.

Message received.

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