The Power of No

I used to have a small business doing demolition and cleanup on residential construction sites around Malibu, California. We got a job stripping a house in Malibu Colony to the bones (ripping out cabinets, ripping up carpet, stripping wallpaper, etc.)

It was a strange job in all respects. We were hired by the architect of the rebuild and told the identity of the client was a strict secret. He was an important financier and this was to be a house on the beach for his mistress.

The first thing that made it strange was that, even though the house was empty, his mistress was already living there with just a few pieces of furniture in her bedroom. The next was how disgusting the house was. The kitchen was covered in grease, the carpets had maggots, and the whole place stank of mold and cigarettes.

His mistress had been a Hungarian beauty queen and was truly gorgeous. She was also very friendly and we often chatted for the week or so it took us to get the job done.

The strangest part was about three months later when we got a call to return to the house and do some more work. As far as I could see, nothing had been done to the house since we had been there last, and the woman was still there. But she had changed.

She had gained lots of weight, wasn’t taking care of herself at all, and was totally freaked out. She ran from us whenever we got close, and kept sneaking peeks us from behind doorways. She’d become a crazy lady.

Was terribly sad.

We were just finishing up for the day, and we’re in the garage while the garage door was closing. Suddenly, the door to the house flung open, and  she ran into the garage screaming at us. A powerful energy overwhelmed me, and I knew I could not be in a closed room with this woman.

She was between me and the door to the house, and the garage door was almost shut, but that didn’t stop me. I screamed  “NO!” at the top of my lungs, and dove for the tiny gap between the garage door and the ground. Somehow I passed through.

My coworkers were astonished. They said it look like I went right through the garage door. It felt like that to me too.

My first experience with the power of No.

∞∞∞

My next experience, was when I was driving home late at night through a forest in Northern California. I just been to a powerful workshop and was feeling extremely energized.

There was a full moon, it was misty, the roads were slick, and I was speeding , as usual. Suddenly I came to the crest of a hill, and just a few yards in front of me was a full grown female deer standing in the middle of the road.

There was no time to steer around her, and with the road so slick, slamming on the brakes would probably put me into an uncontrolled skid hitting the deer anyway.

I screamed, “NO!”, slammed the gas pedal to the floor, and braced for impact.

Nothing happened.

I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the deer in the moonlight looking at me drive away.

The power of No.

∞∞∞∞

I was driving on a twisty road on the Irish coast. I was speeding, as usual, and in a lapse of awareness, had begun driving on the right side of the road, which in Ireland, is the wrong side of the road.

I came around a curve to see a car speeding towards me, instants away from a head-on collision.

I screamed, “NO!”, so intensely I only saw white.

A moment later, I saw open road in front of me and slammed on the brakes.

The driver of the other car had also stopped.

I got out of the car as did my girlfriend and the other driver. Nobody could explain what happened.

We stood around for a few minutes, saying things like, “What just happened?”, then went on our ways.

The power of No.