Withdrawing Negative Attention
CHAPTER 17 Sara Soothes Seth
A
ll day long, as Sara made her way through the crowded hallways between her classes, she continued to search for Seth. I hope he’s okay, Sara thought sadly.She walked down the stairway from the fourth floor to the third floor to the second floor, and as she rounded the last turn leading to the first floor level of the school building, she saw Seth walking slowly down the stairs. She slowed down and walked several steps behind him, watching him. His backpack was awkwardly hanging across his right shoulder. For a moment, Sara wondered why it wasn’t on his back, the way he always wore it, and then she noticed a large bulky bandage on his left arm that seemed to wrap his entire arm, from his shoulder right down to his finger tips.
Sara gulped, realizing from the size of the bandage that Seth’s left arm must have sustained some serious injury. And then, as he turned to go out the big front doors,
Sara gasped right out loud as she saw another bandage covering almost the entire left side of his face. She started to call out to him, wanting to soothe him. Or maybe she wanted him to soothe her? But she stopped short.
Holding on to the stair railing to steady herself, her knees feeling like they might buckle right out from under her, Sara remembered Solomon’s wise, clear words:
You will be one person, undoubtedly the only person, who will not dramatize the negative experience. You will be the one stable person in Seth’s life who will stand before him knowing completely the well-being of his experience.
The last thing that she wanted was for Seth to see the alarm she was feeling. Sara was glad that she hadn’t bumped into Seth all day. She really needed more time to find her place. How in the world was she supposed to be a stable person and not dramatize his negative experience, when half his body was covered in those awful-looking bandages? How could she pretend that everything was just the same as it was before?
help. I need you to help me focus on something good about Seth’s bandages.
Sara, those wonderful bandages are assisting in the healing process. Underneath those bandages are intelligent cells of well-being. Those cells are now summoning Source Energy, in more powerful ways than usual, to assist in the healing process. The human body is a remarkable thing, Sara. It is resilient and flexible and hearty—so just imagine the bandages removed and your beautiful Seth restored anew.
Sara smiled. Solomon had a way of always making her feel sooooo much better.
“Thanks, Solomon!” “Hey, Seth, wait up!”
Seth wasn’t moving very fast, but he was already halfway across the parking lot. Sara ran to catch up.
“Hey!” Sara said, as she caught up with Seth. “Hey!” Seth said looking the other way.
“I heard you were an amazing swimmer and that those swift currents didn’t hinder you one bit,” Sara said,
wanting to emphasize the most positive point she could think of about the extraordinary experience Seth had had since she had seen him last.
Seth was quiet.
“And your quick thinking and fast actions saved Samuel’s life!”
Seth was still quiet.
“And Mrs. Carlisle’s hairpiece fell in the banana pudding and got tangled in the Mixmaster, and they had to throw out all the pudding.” Sara grinned. She had no idea why that came out of her, but she was happy to notice that Seth was smiling, too.
He laughed. “Sara, did that really happen, or did you make it up?”
“No, I swear, it really happened! Seth, you know I would never lie to you. Not about important things, like pudding, anyway.” “Yeah, right.” Seth laughed. “Well, all right then.
That’s good.” “It’s good to see you, Seth. I missed you.”
days before I’ll be swinging from the tree, and I can’t go there tonight because . . .” He stopped, not wanting to explain that he was supposed to go to the doctor’s office to have his bandages changed.
“No biggie,” Sara chimed in. “We’ll catch up in a few days. I have about a million things to tell you, but nothing that can’t wait. I’ll see ya later, Seth.”
Seth turned the corner toward his house. Sara felt as if she had successfully completed an obstacle course, where any number of things could have gone terribly wrong, but didn’t. She smiled a little. She felt pretty good about what had just happened. It wasn’t a perfect conversation; she knew that. But she had somewhat succeeded in not dramatizing what most would call a negative experience. She had wanted to soothe Seth; she had wanted to help him feel better. And she hoped that she had.
Good job, Sara. Sara heard Solomon’s voice in her
head.