Good News! Nothing is Wrong

By Greg Baer M.D.

June 8, 2015


Our son embarked on a long journey and left in our driveway his Jeep Cherokeeā€”somewhat aged from more than 150,000 miles of use. For the previous several months it had slowly been leaking radiator fluid, so we always carried anti-freeze and water to replenish the fluid level.

When the leakage became excessiveā€”after many gallons of anti-freezeā€”we took the car to the dealership for repairs. After a couple of days, the service department called, and a man announced, ā€œGood news, we did two pressure tests on the coolant system, and we found nothing wrong.ā€

I described to him the considerable evidence of continued leaking, and asked him to keep it for another day of examination. He called again the next day to repeat the good news that nothing was wrong.

Hmmm. For months we had dealt with dropping fluid levels, wet floor mats, and rising engine temperatures, but the dealership was happy to announce that there was ā€œnothing wrong.ā€ The coolant leak continued inconveniently until a new engine finally fixed the problem, but only after an additional seven visits to various dealerships and repair shops.

I find many similarities between the original dealerā€™s report and what I hear nearly every day from people who call and visit me. Most of us live in ways that simply do not work, plagued by pain, fear, anger, and other conditions that banish any possibility of happiness. When I talk to these people, however, almost uniformly they deny the seriousness of their condition, as well as denying any of their own behaviors that might contribute to their unhappiness.

Many of us cannot tolerate facing the truth of our lives, so we attempt to survive by profoundly denying what is true. Our denial enables us briefly to avoid facing the truth, but the ā€œcoolantā€ continues to leak onto the ground, eventually leading to a gruesome finale.

No matter how unpleasant the truth, we must deal with it. Only then can we change our perspective, our feelings, and our behaviors, thereby achieving the happiness we desire.

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About the author 

Greg Baer, M.D.

I am the founder of The Real LoveĀ® Company, Inc, a non-profit organization. Following the sale of my successful ophthalmology practice I have dedicated the past 25 years to teaching people a remarkable process that replaces all of life's "crazy" with peace, confidence and meaning in various aspects of their personal lives, including parenting, marriages, the workplace and more.

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