I said to my mechanic, “You are like a priest.”

Gordie Jackson
3 min readAug 2, 2017

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The power of words over a noisy car

It began yesterday evening. I noticed a sound I don’t normally noticed and I did what I normally do pretend I didn’t hear it and hope it goes away.

I was on the motorway and the speed was not increasing, I was thinking, “Will this car conk* out?” It didn’t and I got to the place that I write. I thought the worry about the car would interfere with writing though I somehow applied what I often proclaim, “Live in the moment”.

I returned and made sure the oil was topped up and drove home only to realise that so distracted was I that I forgot to turn my lights on!

I was bothered as I went to sleep though again I had to remind myself there was no point in worrying about whether or not it would start in the morning. A mantra I try to practice is, “ I will deal with it ( whatever IT is ) when I need to deal with it and right now I am not dealing with it.”

In the morning I jumped in and off we went and then the noises started. “Do I stop with my mechanic or just drive on?” A part of me wanted to drive on but then another question that I use in such situations came, “What would wisdom say?”

Wisdom would say, “ Stop at the garage and see what he thinks.” So I indicate left taking myself back into the village and to the garage.

I had popped in last week and booked it in for a check in the event that before the summer is out I may take it across the channel. “I had a premonition last week and here am I.”

He takes his testing kit and tests whatever gets tested in these moments. He tells me there is a problem though it will be ok to keep going until our scheduled check up. I pose a few questions, still not convinced and not wanting to come to a halt in 4 lanes of motorway traffic. He assures me. I jump in and off I go.

At points, it still doesn’t sound good but his knowledge, my trust in him and his words give me the confidence to drive on.

I found myself thinking about the power of words to bring reassurance. I mean I could have driven on and I could be worrying though I knew the difference as I wasn’t, that was the power of his words.

We could remain silent, we could choose to ignore our instinct to encourage another yet our words have power and combined with trust and knowledge we can provide assurance to a troubled soul.

Simply his words brought a calm to a mental storm.

g.

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Gordie Jackson

Speaks with a Northern Irish accent, lives in Hertfordshire, England.