141 Back To School and Mindfulness Weekends With Bruce Langford

Returning to school after summer vacation. Depending onwhere you are, some schools are already back in class; in our area the big dayis right after labour day, this year September 6th.

I remember getting new clothes for school, and not wantingto wear them. That seems strange to say, now that I’m remembering back, butthere was this thing, that when any of the guys in my class went to schoolwearing new clothes, and I mean new clothes of any kind, you’d get teased. Teasingthat would go on and on all day, making remarks, poking at the person. Really,it was closer to bullying that teasing. I mean, it seems silly & childishnow that I think of it, after all, we were in 7th or 8thgrade as I remember.

One day I was wearing something new and a lean, wiry kid,I’ll just call him Lenny, he started picking on me and centering me out. Iremember feeling this sudden surge of anger, just instantly welling in the backof my neck. Before I knew what happened, I punched him, one quick, powerful, solidpunch right to the side of his face. What seemed to be a split second later, hefired back, a solid, well planted hit to a target just below my left eye.

We were sitting in the office before I knew what happenedand we both had incredible shiners that were swelling up by the moment.  The school Principal was a fairly tall,rounded guy with a powerful, booming voice. I remember how he walked; hecarried himself like his was king of the universe. He used BryleCream in hishair and parted it with a vertical part straight down the back of his head.

He made us sweat for about 20 minutes. He left us sittingthere in his office where he could watch us through his famous 2-way mirror.  When he came in, I’m sure we were bothsweating bullets.

He wanted to know everything that happened, why I sluggedthe guy, why he punched me back. And when we finished our stories, he stood up,turned around and took something off a hook on the wall on the other side ofthe room. It had been hanging there the whole time, with a collection of severalothers; his strap collection.

“Which strap do you think I should use”, he asked us, asthough he was really going to give us the choice.

He said, “I’ve never had to show either one of you guys thestrap before, but this is the kind of behavior that earns kids the strap aroundhere.”

We both tried to remain stoic and I honestly think the twoof us bonded just a bit as a result of this experience. The threat of the strapturned out to be just a warning, we paid for the incident by having to nurse ourshiners for a couple of weeks before healing up.

Now if I had understood what it meant to be mindful backthen, I’m pretty sure I never would have punched the kid in the face. I mean, Iwould have realized that he was just looking for a reaction.

Wouldn’t life be great if you could be that confident, that youwere always in control of your emotions.

As far as I can remember, nobody in my class ever teasedanybody about new clothes after that. No one could believe that Bruce Langfordpunched another kid and gave him a black eye.

Well, I’m not proud of it. I wouldn’t want my son to know,oh wait, since he’s my editor, he’s apt to come across this recording. Well,I’m being vulnerable and just telling an incident that probably taught mesomething. I mean in a way I wish I could somehow erase this from the historybooks, but in another way, well, that was a different time, and what happened,happened. I think that is mindfulness too.

Today marks the end of my Weekends With Bruce series. Didyou enjoy these weekend episodes, with the different style, a contrast to myregular interviews?

Mindful Tribe, I’m always grateful for your feedback, youremails, your comments on what you like and what you don’t like. It would begreat if you took a minute and send me an email with your feedback on theWeekend Shows.

Depending on your comments, maybe I’ll do some special bonusepisodes or … who knows what. Here’s a shoutout to you Inga, I know you’re afaithful listener and I appreciate your feedback.

So, till next time, Mindful Tribe, take what we ‘ve learnedtoday and use it to reach new heights of calm, focus and happiness. Stay In TheMode!