Love and happiness from new viewpoint

Scott Lee columnist

Here's a story I heard from Wayne Dyer, and I would like to share it with you.

It's a story that shows if we change our perspective on the world, then the world around us changes and when you give love, the only thing you can get back is love and let's face it, love is the best feeling in the world, happiness guaranteed.

So here it is:

"Mrs Thompson was a school teacher, and when she greeted her class at the start of the new year, she told a lie.
She said: 'I love you and will teach you all equally.'
The reason this was a lie was because Teddy Stoddart was in her class, a boy who was slumped over his desk. He often seemed uninterested and regularly needed a bath.

Mrs Thompson had seen that he was not interacting well with the other children and his disinterest in school often left the work he handed in as "low quality".

It pretty quickly got to the stage where Mrs Thompson was taking great pleasure in marking Teddy's school work with a large red pen that made the crosses and the regular "F" stand out well.

Teddy did not seem disturbed by this at all; if anything, he became more disinterested.

During the school year, Mrs Thompson was required to review the children's past school records and Teddy's record was left until last. However, Mrs Thompson was in for a shock.

Teddy's report from four years previously said: "Teddy is a wonderful, thoughtful student who gets on well with the other children and is a pleasure to teach. He will go far".

From three years ago it read: "Teddy is a good student, but ever since his mother become terminally ill, his school work has gone backwards".

From two years ago: "Teddy took his mother's death very hard, and he is finding it more and more difficult to manage the requirements of his school work".

And from 1 year ago: "Teddy is finding it very difficult to manage his school work and is becoming more solitary. His father seems uninterested and unless something is done soon, it will be difficult to see Teddy progress to achieve much".

Not long after reading this, the tradition was that students bought their teacher a gift in the middle of the year. Teddy bought Mrs Thompson a gift, which she opened like it was a priceless treasure. Inside was a rhinestone bracelet (missing a few stones) and a quarter-full bottle of perfume.

While some of the students started laughing, Mrs Thompson silenced them by admiring the bracelet as she put it on and dabbed some of the perfume on her wrist.

At the end of the day Teddy came up to Mrs Thompson and said, "You smelled just like my mum today" and then left. She cried for a time and decided this was the time she would stop teaching reading, writing and maths and started teaching children.

Teddy flourished as Mrs Thompson started to pay attention to him and what he needed to lift himself up.

When he left school, he would occasionally write to Mrs Thompson. One letter said, "I just finished high school in the top 3 in my class and you are still the best teacher I ever had."

He wrote a few years later "my name just got a little longer, Mrs Thompson. It's now Teddy Stoddart MD. Thank you for still being the best teacher I ever had."

Some more time passed and Mrs Thompson received a letter that said, "I am getting married soon and, as my father has also passed away, could you come and sit where the mother of the groom would normally sit? And you are still the best teacher I ever had."

She wore the bracelet that Teddy had given her and made sure she wore the perfume Teddy's mother used to wear to his wedding.

During the evening, they hugged and Teddy said: "Thank you so much for helping me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."

Mrs Thompson replied, "You've got it all wrong. You are the one that showed me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach, until I met you."

I hope you enjoyed this, I hope it spoke to you in some way. Changing your perspective can be so liberating, not only for you but also for the other person.

So who is your Teddy Stoddart?

Do you want to have another look and see the other person's perspective? What is happening for them right now that you might not be seeing?

Reviewing our perspective can be a game changer, and can create great love and happiness, which is what we all want deep down, right?

If you want to watch Wayne recite this story, go over to Love and Money on facebook, search loveandmoneynetwork, like the page and the video will be there. Enjoy.