Perils of riding an elevator in a Medical Facility.
THE ELEVATOR
It always makes me nervous getting on an elevator with people at a Medical Center because you never know who is contagious and who isn’t.
Four people are waiting with me to board the elevator at Harris Medical Center. There is a lady who is obviously pregnant, a young man with a severe acne condition, a gentleman with a blue coloring to his skin, suggesting some type of heart condition and a young lady who doesn’t appear to be ill. Me, I’m going to see my dentist for my annual check up.
No one got off the elevator at the second or third floor but as it passed the third floor it gave a jerk and slowed to a stop. Everyone in the elevator looked around nervously and the young man started pushing buttons on the control panel.
The young woman started to cry saying “This can’t be happening. I can’t be here. I have to get out! Let me out, Help!”
The pregnant lady was starting to show signs of panic and the older gentleman was not looking good. His skin color had gone to grey.
I said in a quiet voice, “Ladies and Gentlemen please remain calm. We will get through this together and everything will be alright.”
“I would like you to look at me for a moment. Watch my face and listen to what I have to say. I am going to talk to you and as I do I would like you to reach out and place your hands on top of mine.”
I turned to the young lady and ask her to place her hands on mine and look into my eyes as I spoke to her. I explained to her there is a mental switch in our brain that we can turn on that will produce energy. That energy will then absorb all our anxieties and fears. It is a matter of concentration to visualize the switch and mentally turn it on.
Each person in turn placed their hands on mine as I explained how they could control their fears and stress simply by using the switch within their brain.
After I had talked to them each individually I asked them to take the hand of the person standing next to them, making a circle so they could share their energy with their neighbor.
When the elevator finally came back on and reached the fourth floor a fireman opened the door and asked if everyone was alright.
We looked at him and said “Yes, we’re fine.”
As they left the elevator they each thanked me and said they would continue to use the technique throughout their lives.
The fireman looked at me and said “What did you do? That’s the calmest group of stranded people I’ve ever seen.”
“Oh nothing, just a little bit of hypnosis can go a long way.” I replied.
I hadn't thought of contagion on an elevator before… One more thing to worry about. Is this a true story? Is it really possible to calm people with this method or is it just a story?
I had a college speech teacher who was trapped in the old elevator in her classroom building. She claimed she would never ride an elevator again. I took my helper to have her face lasered for acne scars. After the procedure, with blood and pus coming out, her face looked like raw hamburger. The doctor gave her a paper napkin to hold over her head and face, but when we got on the elevator, all the people on the elevator looked at her in horror, wondering what had happened to her face. In two weeks, her face looked much better.
Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
