The News....Part I

Over the past few weeks or so I've shared a series of somewhat nebulous and cryptic posts with a broad theme of change. They were, in fact my way of dealing with a change in my life I initiated that I was not yet at liberty to disclose. I can now share the news that I decided to end my career at Pet Co to pursue an opportunity elsewhere. Long time readers may recall that I've been with my company for over 13 years- a long time by any standards. I've had a fantastic run with my company and appreciate the investments they have made in my development over the past 13 years. Believe me, this is not a change I took lightly. The circumstances which brought this new opportunity were quite unexpected and sudden. Laws of nature say every action has a reaction, and in this case it couldn't be more true. When I realized it I knew I had to act quickly. It really was a matter of "all the stars aligning" at a precise moment.

Throughout my life I have always trusted my instinct. I am blessed to be guided by a higher power- maybe what some call a guardian angel, but I have never questioned it- I accept it and allow the events to unfold. Without being overly dramatic, this is a major change not only for me, but for my employer as well. You see, I've been a very public "face" of the firm for many years- something of a subject matter expert with broad perspective of the industry and a walking Rolodex. Yesterday the news of my departure from work was announced internally. It was a complete shock and surprise to many. As the news spread throughout the organization I received a few hundred well-wishing e-mails from colleagues during the course of the day, which was a pleasant surprise.

I do not believe in coincidences. I believe that everything happens for a reason. Early on when the chain of events unfolded that brought about the possibility of this new career, I saw a friend of mine who is a great listener. He sensed my mind was heavy with thought and conflict. He handed me a copy of The Mental Equivalent, by Emmet Fox- a fascinating document about the power of positive thinking. From it, I learned the importance of making up one's mind about what you do want, and completely eliminating all thoughts of what will hold you back, or don't want to happen. By doing so, the positive energy would help make it happen. I did just that. I used a dash of common sense, a dash of dreams with a dash of good business sense and set the events in motion. The rest just unfolded naturally.

Looking back I am amazed at the timing of it all. It's cool that my friend gave me a book which turned out to be just what I needed to sort everything out and get my head around this matter. I don't think it was mere coincidence that I saw my friend on that day, and that he happened to have a book handy, or that he happened to think it would help me. I believe the timing of seeing that friend and the book were almost "sent" to me. Of course I had free choice to ignore it, not read the book, or not choose to even follow what the author wrote. So you see why looking back, I feel there was a set of truly amazing occurrences that all happened at precisely the right time. I never questioned it, I accepted it. Sometime next week I'll share more details. All I can share at the moment is that I shall continue to work within the pet industry and look forward to continuing my passions about improving the health of dogs and cats.

Now here's another amazing element: Last summer a friend of mine who reads numerology predicted this change, although I had completely forgotten about it. She described the end of a "very long cycle" and pointed to the December/January time frame when something big would change and it would be karmic. I'll leave out the rest of what she said, but it was quite positive.

So I'll leave it at that. For those of you who have sent e-mails or left comments trying to decipher the last weeks of cryptic posts, THANK YOU for your concern. I am happy to report that all is quite well. I am quite sure this is destiny following its natural course. More to come on this next week, in The News Part II.
-Rick Rockhill