A story from the phantom planters past!

 A story from the phantom planters past....

I had this crazy man that worked for me in my house clearance business that I had many years ago, I called him big wig, he had a head of hair on him that would put the Jackson 5 to shame, he drove me mad, he cracked me up, he made me laugh but he also hit some home truths with me!

When he seen me do my stuff pricing up a house clearance, sometimes the customers thought I was going to pay them but after I hit them with my gift of the gab waffle which I was born with from my Delboy dad they ended up paying me and away I went rubbing my hands.

They were scratching their heads half the time but I knew during the housing boom they were making a fortune selling their grannies house and they couldn't get the house cleared quick enough to get it sold.

(The ironic thing about my house clearance business was I got into it to launder money I had made from when I was very young, had amassed way too much cash for my own good and didnt know what to do with it and it was getting moldy also from storing outside.

I had to do something so I thought dealing in second hand goods would be the perfect way for cleaning up the money but it ended up that the house clearance business made me more money than I had to clean, you couldn't make it up!)

I done a clearance once with big wig and I brought the stuff back to my buyers of anything sellers of everything superstore and on this one occasion I had just been paid £300 to clear a house, as I was offloading the lorry I had sold some of items from the clearance for £500 to a guy and big wig being his usual self said in front of the customer, "that was alrite you just got paid £300 to take that rubbish away"!

He didnt know when to keep his mouth shut, I was so close to grabbing his big wig that day!

Big wig used to call me mad dog as I was always running around pissed and drugged up out of my mind all day every day like a live wire, never knowing what way my mood would be or what was going to come out of my mouth next!

I may of had it all on the outside, the toys and tinsel, the paper and digits but inside there was no inner peace or contentment, a victim of the monopoly board!

I used to huff alot with customers too and refused to sell to them like a spoilt child at times, hiking my prices up as and when it suited me!

On occasions I used to pay people for their house contents in vouchers to spend in my store and if they came up and said they were interested in a load of stuff I would have been rubbing my hands, then they pull out a voucher! I was fuming!

I said you need to check the small print, vouchers can only be spent in the books, bric-a-brac section or candy floss, that pissed them off but I didn't care!

Yes we had candyfloss, blimps, geese and a double decker bus, also had a furnace the size of bedroom that I made for burning all the rubbish, cant see black smoke at night, saved me a fortune and it was to heat an underground casino I had going at weekends, it was quite the place!

The police raided me once and took me away, 10 hours they were there, I remember one of the police officers saying to his superior its really not possible to search everywhere here, after he said that he had set his book down and he couldn't find it, if you set something down at my store it was like where's wolly looking for it, the whole raid for the next half hour turned into looking for the police mans book!

Next day when I got released I checked my cameras and there was the police men playing golf as I had a mini putting green, they were playing darts and trying on fur coats, they were all rather amsused by my store...

That house clearance business can cause all sorts of problems for you, you never know what dodgy goods you can come across from deceased peoples houses, my solicitor said to me once, you know why Al Capones profession was second hand dealer as he's looking me up and down, had no idea I said but I'm thinking of getting out of this business if I'm going to be getting arrested all the time, wheres my protection I used to say to the police!

Anyhow one thing big wig always said to me was I would be dead by the time I was 40 the way I run around, I was in my late 20s back then, it always stuck in my mind him saying that and I did believe it!

But with the help of the Buddhas teachings, Yoga, nature, planting and chanting, meditation, affirmations, praying, the mountain and my best mate wee Betty, I am fitter than I was when I was 18 and I've never felt healthier or happier!

It took me roughly 5 years of fighting my inner demons, getting off cigarettes, alcohol and other poisons, but I told myself I don't care if I come out of yoga and go to the bar i'm still doing yoga, I don't care if I leave a Buddhist retreat to look for a bar i'm still going to meditate, I don't care if I have a hangover i'm walking the mountain.

I kept forcing myself to do these things and it has paid off!

People have this mentality that your either a piss head or a health freak, that there is no point doing yoga if your just going to drink, well I can honestly say that yes you can and should do both if you cant break free from your addictions, its all about creating an awareness in yourself, making new habits and one day it will pay off.

Buddhism for me is a science of the mind, our brains have been wired with habits, I always say I didnt start drinking 10-20 beer a day overnight, that took years of practice, you cant undo all these negative habits you've created in a short space of time, you'll fry your head, its a slow process creating new habits, finding the middle way as the Buddha says we should all try and find.

Love what Big D says about antidotes, makes a lot of sense to me, what are the antidotes to our problems?

Drink and drugs are killing us so self care and self love is the antidote, if we are stiff we should stretch, if our minds are fast we should try and be still, if we feel hate and anger we should try and be loving and compassionate.

Next time you see someone being angry at you try and feel for them because they are suffering, they are not in a good place, try not to get angry with them back!

All easier said than done though and it takes years of practice, but sure what else could be better doing than trying to heal yourself, came a long way myself and still a long way to go yet but I like this path of trying to attain victory over yourself and not over others, I never wanted to have to take anything from the outside to make me feel ok, only food, water an air.

If we have to take anything no mater what it is, pill, supplement or whatever I felt I would be a slave to it, in my mind it was controlling me.

I want to own me, be a master of my own thoughts and actions, a humble content observer of this world is what i'm striving to be!

Im just so lucky and grateful that I've found my souls path, only we know deep inside if our life path is right for us,  we do have a tendency to fool ourselves though. 

Good luck to all suffering out there.

#phantomplanter

Peace and love!

I challenge you to phantom plant a tree! Anywhere, anytime, any place.....