As I pushed the mower across my aunt’s lawn, I stopped in the driveway and looked at the job I’d just completed. Through conversations with Joe, I learned to take some time to stop and look over my work… whether it was a job for someone else, or just something I was doing because it just needed to be done.

Since meeting Joe, my life has begun to level up. Though I still have much work to do on myself, and a whole lot more introspection to perform, as I looked across the large, beautiful, green lawn, I smiled ever so slightly… “I did that!”

I made this lawn green by caring for it. I seeded the bare spots, made sure it got enough water and oxygen. I set my mower to the right height so the blades of grass were just long enough to stand on end and present a lush green color that not only I would be proud of, but the whole neighborhood would envy… which they did.

Over the past few months, I had gotten so many compliments regarding how my aunt’s house was becoming the “most adorable” house on the block… as at least two of our neighbors specifically commented.

I had gotten into the habit of mowing the half-acre property every other week; both front and back lawns.

My reward for a job well done wasn’t just the instant gratification I received when looking at it, but it was also a time where I rewarded myself by taking a seat on the porch, cast my gaze out over the lawn and sip on a nice cold beer while the sun would soon set.

Since learning about, and finding my personal integrity, I won’t say that everything has been smooth sailing, but week after week, it has been smoother and gotten quite a bit saner. My habit of drinking to fit in with society ie… “socializing” was ebbed by my wanting to be at cause in my life. I learned that I can still have some beers when going out on occasion, but I also needed to have a cut-off switch.

I didn’t think I could have a cut-off. I mean, I know many other people who say if they have one or more, they will keep going until they are rock solid drunk… sometimes even pass-out drunk. As for me, through a lot of introspective work, I no longer subconsciously drink. In other words, I drink consciously. There is no longer a “switch” that I need to be concerned about… a switch I was told was uncontrollable and if I had one or two drinks, I would be unable to stop. I was told my actions were involuntary. I believed the lie because it allowed me to be a victim… of myself. It allowed me to not own up to my faults and that I was desperately, as well as subconsciously, trying to hide.

The friends I used to hang with on a “happy hour” Friday, well, they’re still drinking and socializing while I’m here enjoying my moment of cause and effect. I really took a deeper look at just how green the lawn has turned out, and it makes me smile.

Joe acknowledged some work I’d done with the sprinkler system and how I paid attention to it, making it work correctly by replacing a bad valve and a broken sprinkler head… making the water spray in a perfect pattern. I even bought a new control box and learned how to wire it… connect it to the valves and set the timing.

Any minute now, four sprinkler heads on station one, the front lawn before me, will come on and water the area for 10 minutes. There are six different stations… areas of each yard that get watered. I made the sprinkler system work properly by not “paying” attention, but instead, “giving” direct attention. I was at cause by giving my direct attention to the effect I wanted to experience. I wanted my aunt’s house to be a place she absolutely loved coming home to and for her to feel completely at peace. Heck… I wanted that, too.

The lesson I took away from working on the sprinklers was that I “gave my attention” to what I truly wanted. When everything came together and worked properly, I experienced a life altering change within. I could actually feel the “cause” part of the whole. It was as if my repairs allowed the water to now flow and I was giving life to not just the lawn, but to myself. It clicked… being at cause was a large part of my personal growth. The instant gratification I received, and which made me feel incredibly great, was actually melded as an attachment to cause and effect… I started recognizing this and used it in other areas of my life.

The list I had created when Joe asked me to look at my personal issues, were all handled, or being handled, through the act of giving attention to what I wanted to cause, and what I wanted the effect to be as a result.

As I sit here sipping my beer and enjoying the effects of my labor, I realize how easy it is to become whatever one wants if they give (not pay) attention to cause and effect. Heck… I remember being frustrated because no one would hire me for a job. Joe suggested I consider giving attention to causing my own job/work… which I did. Because I perfected this lawn before me, others in the neighborhood asked if I could get their lawns in order, as well as doing other property repairs.

Like I said… life has gotten much smoother/easier and seemingly much saner week after week. Who knew attention to cause and effect could create greatness and not just be a random act rolling through the universe.

Cheers!