I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter 2
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter 4
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
I didn’t know that Portia Nelson wrote this! I first came across it in the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche who adopted it in his book! As I re-read it now, it speaks to me of taking responsibility for our actions and habits. Only then, with awareness and clarity and acceptance can we walk down another street.
So true Norene we do have to take responsibility and sometimes a kind soul helps too.
I read this years back when Dr Wayne Dyer talked and wrote about it.
Who is Portia Nelson?
As I said before, I had never heard of Portia Nelson but found out that she was an American singer, song-writer, actor and writer; she died in 2001 at age 80. She was in The Sound of Music, Dr. Dolittle and much to my surprise, All My Children (my all time favorite soap opera!) She has a book called There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: The Romance of Self-Discovery.
I love the idea of a kind soul helping us on our journey. You and our Circle Members are the kind souls who have helped me on my life’s sometimes rocky rocky road
Ah All My Children! Yes my favorite soap opera too! I wonder what character she played. I’ll google it plus the book. Yes I love that idea of a kind soul helping us on our journey too. You and our Circle Members are kind souls and truly I don’t know where I would be without us all
