He was contemplating suicide. Sitting him down I spoke, “Why would you end your life? Is it just because you trusted yourself and chose a tough simulation game?” He looked up and said “I did not understand.”
I smiled and told him, “If you had only ten minutes as life and had a choice of opting for a slow moving car or a superfast sports car, what would you choose?” His eyes twinkled as he quickly responded, “Sports care!”
I asked him again, “If you knew you cannot get hurt even if you had an accident; and in addition, you would have a innumerable attempts to restart the race no matter how many times you fail, would you accept the toughest or the easiest car race?” He replied with surety in his voice, “I would choose the toughest of-course! Because I know I will be fine no matter what.”
I spoke one more time, “If I said, you can ride for 30 mins if you choose the slow car but if you choose the sports car, you can ride it only for 15 minutes, which one would you choose?” “I would never choose the slow car. It is better to live 15 minutes full of adventure than 30 minutes of boring slow driving.”
I pushed a little, “But it is a sports car. You can ride only for 15 minutes and the speed can cause accidents!” Showing slight irritation in his voice he asked, “So what? It is best to live 15 minutes in fun than live 30 minutes of boredom! Why should I compromise?”
I smiled and stopped. He had heard himself and went silent. After a long while, he spoke with tears in his eyes “You are saying I chose a tough life because I trusted I could manage it. An easy life would be boring for me anyways. Life will always give me another chance no matter how many times I fail and I also know that the soul never dies! All I have to say to my circumstance is, ‘so what?’ Each time I make a mistake because life is all but 15 minutes of good fun right?”
I looked at him. “I did not say anything. I think this is called self-realization. Now, Let us discuss how you can die faster.” I nagged. He smiled and said, “Sorry but I am not wasting another minute on thoughts of dying I have only 15 minutes in my sports car.”
We spent a good minute laughing. Therapies heal the therapist first and then the client I realise this more than ever today.
𝗮𝗔
Anuradha Kamath is a Wellness Consultant and Behavioral therapist and assists her clients both in group and individually, as a Hypnotherapist, Energy Healer, Metaphor Therapist, Sound Healer, Access Bar Practitioner and Laughter Yoga Therapist.
𝘄𝘄𝘄.𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗵𝗮𝗸𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗵.𝗰𝗼𝗺