Orange Juice Theory

Many years ago I read a book by Wayne Dyer where he described what I call the "Orange Juice Theory."  He talked  about what you get when you squeeze an orange---of course you get what is inside ---orange juice.  He said it is the same when you squeeze a person.  You get what is inside.  So... if you are filled with anger and frustration and you are squeezed anger and frustration comes out.  If you are filled with love and acceptance then when you are squeezed you get love and acceptance and so on.  This was an epiphany for me and I shared it with my friends and family. 

It really came home to me one time when my father was seriously ill and the doctors were trying to diagnose his illness.  They performed a bone scan on him and it was very painful.  The nurse said "Mr. Short I know this is going to hurt you," and Daddy responded, "that's okay sugar I know you don't mean to."  This was a perfect example of what was inside him.  He was a gentle and kind man and saw the good in those around him so when he was squeezed and in pain his gentleness and kindness came out.  That really made the lesson personal for me and as years have gone by my family members often remark it's the orange juice which to us means that we are seeing what is really inside the person. 

There was another example in the past when some of my friends and I met weekly to study the Bible.  One day one of the ladies was very upset because her husband had become angry with her that morning when she served the wrong kind of orange juice.  We all supported her and tried to help her deal with her husband in a positive way.  After much discussion we all decided "It's not the orange juice."  He was angry and the orange juice just happened to be handy but the issue was something totally different.  So many times in our lives we get angry or upset over something that is really not the issue.   If we ask the right questions in our communication we can get to the real issue and resolve it.  If we never get to the real issue we can continue to argue about the orange juice but no matter how many different types of orange juice we try the real answer doesn't come.

So is it or is it not the orange juice.  Think about it.....