Always Watching
"The Universe is always watching you. Remember you don't attract what you want, you attract what you are. ' Wayne Dyer
We live in a pretty documentable world right now. Whether it is a jogger in the park, the driver next to us, or the video surveillance cam up in the corner…. Much of our daily public activities can be captured and recorded.Lately it seems that there have been a whole lot of ‘catch ‘em being bad’ types of videos showing up in the news. An example of this is the recent video of ESPN reporter Britt McHenry that has gone viral. (The video was reportedly edited in a way that did not favor Ms. McHenry, but even so, her behavior is pretty unflattering.)Britt McHenry’s situation should give us all food for thought. The notion that we can be ‘recorded’ by another is a sobering one. Knowing that we are being watched changes everything. In science it is called ‘the observer effect’. In simple terms, what it tells us is that being observed changes how we act- usually for the better. Some may believe they are under surveillance only during those moments when the red light of a real life video camera is blinking in the corner. As for me... I have been under strict observation by the SSU for as long as I can remember. (SSU stands for Surveillance System of the Universe.) When I misbehave in the objective world the nice folks over at SSU ALWAYS live stream my actions right back to me in real time. The friendly ‘we’re watching you’ reminders always hit home and I clean up my act pretty quickly. It has been one of the most efficient growth tools in my life.Although I needed no convincing that the SSU was real, about six months ago I had an experience that took my belief in this concept to a whole new level. This particular day I was sharing my SSU theory with a young man who is a beloved client of mine. We were discussing personal accountability and how important it is to do the right thing not because we have to, but because we want to. I was in the midst of telling him how even when there is no one in this world watching us, the Universe always has the ‘dash-cam’ on. As I was saying this very thing to him, my cell phone on the desk chimed loudly. Realizing I had forgotten to silence the ringer, I walked over to my phone to hit the mute key. My screen was still lit up with the incoming message that had caused the chime. I laughed out loud when I saw the title of the email that had just arrived. It was a message that would have, at any other time, been meaningless spam… but on that day it certainly wasn’t… It was from an electronics company and read “Video Surveillance Equipment Blow Out Sale’… I quickly snapped a screen shot of the email and handed the phone over to my stunned client to see. Suffice it to say that I NEVER get emails about video surveillance equipment. EVER!!!!!This was a great moment for both of us, not just because it was such awesome serendipity, but also because of the reason I see this young man. His Mom died 5 years ago and our work together has always been focused on bridging the gap between this world and the next. Our sessions often open up the door to communications from her and whenever this happens it is a great source of healing.We decided together that day, that the email probably came from BOTH the SSU and his Mother… doubling his reasons to always play up in the world.