Wealthy Thinking Will Produce Wealthy Results

Is Penny Thinking Holding You Back?

“I bargained with life for a penny, and life would pay no more … “ 

And one morning I realized penny thinking was holding me back.

Many years ago, I pulled over and stopped on a freeway in Melbourne. Where my right foot first touched the road lay a penny. 

What was of particular interest, is the penny and I were minted in the same year.

So I put the penny in my wallet and thought of it as my lucky penny. I will always have money in my wallet and will never be poor.

On Saturday morning I went in the car to buy three plants. I carried one plant and had my iPad and wallet in my other hand. And the nursery assistant carried the other two plants.

Reaching the car I placed the iPad and wallet on the back of the car and opened the front passenger door. The three plants traveled home on the car floor.

At home in the driveway, I went around the back of the car to the passenger side. And, in shock, I noticed the iPad was still on the back of the car but no wallet. 

Alarmed, I called out to my wife, quick get in.

And we retraced my steps with both our eyes glued to the road. The plant nursery was some four or five kilometers from home on a dual roadway. We traveled in the right lane (left-hand drive country) with eyes on the other side of the road. 

With three sets of traffic lights and busy Saturday morning traffic, the journey seemed to take forever impatiently.

I was thinking if I didn’t find my mallet would it matter? 

What was in the wallet that was important. Cards, money, drivers license, and the penny. In a sentimental possessive way, I wanted to find the penny. The rest wasn’t as important. 

But that turned out to be just penny thinking. Not good.

Then by chance, 

I spotted my wallet a couple of hundred meters before the nursery.

Screeching to a halt and reversing 100 meters, both Nual and I got out of the car. Nual saying I’ll go, thinking of my still injured knee. Between the roads was a deep stormwater causeway with thick long grass. 

I went, the wallet was my sole focus. and then it was in my hand.

Low and behold, everything was intact and the wallet hadn’t been run over. Two cards had fallen out and were about three feet from the wallet. Everything was still in the wallet.           

Except for the penny. 

Back and forth along the road, I searched.

Meanwhile, Nual had brought the car around. As we were driving back home, with me holding the wallet, this poem came to my mind. 

“I bargained with life for a penny, and life would pay no more.”

As we drove we talked about the morning’s event and the penny. 

Twist of fate. 

I was relieved of the penny and penny thinking. 

Hanging onto that “lucky” penny for all those years hadn’t done much for me. and with it now gone, my wallet and mind are open.

Is there a moral to this story, or a similar story of your own? Maybe. Be it a penny, a lucky charm, a talisman, a constant thought, or some words you say to yourself over and over. 

They are all the same in effect.

If you continue to bargain for a penny, then that’s what life will pay. Sometimes we give up old worn-out ideas, and trinkets we have a belief about. And sometimes we lose them through circumstances. But either way, better to be rid of them.

     Here's an afterthought ...

... a penny for your thought.

Unless of course, you value your thoughts more than just a penny. But for me, no more penny thinking.

P.S. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and benefited from it. What are your thoughts about this? Did it help you in some way? Did you get an idea? Perhaps share with others. Please leave a comment.