In one minute, in one conversation, in one interaction life can take a turn that you never expected. What happens when you are faced with the unexpected?
Every day there are unnerving distractions or happy accidents that are often distortions of what you believed would occur. ? Yet, it seems that we are unified when we act as if we know what is going to happen as the day begins, how it will happen and imagine that we know the way it will all unfold. Silly us!
How we react to external stimuli gives us insight into how we cope in life.
The emotional responses to the storms that have passed through much of our country affect people in a myriad of ways. For some, the nature of weather is part of the landscape of life and they move with it and through it with an emotional grace. While others, and you know who you are, rigidly respond to the weather with emotions that include anxiety, anger and helplessness.
I got into a taxi the day before the storm and the driver declared that he was not going to drive in the snow, he hated the snow, and went on and on with his rant. I’m thinking, why do you live here, but I remain silent. It got me thinking about how our responses to something that is out of our hands, mirrors the way we react when we are not in control.
How do you react to the weather? It may give you an insight as to how you react to other stimuli that is not in your control.
How do you react when you perceive that you would handle a situation with greater finesse? DO you handle the internal angst with finesse or are you flamboyantly agitated?
Ultimately, this blog is focused on how we hold onto ourselves during the stormy times in our lives. Whether a storm of nature or within our intimate relationships, it is vitally important to learn to roll with the unexpected forces that we meet every day.
If you are overwhelmed or feel trapped by snow storms, heat or cold( I am not talking weather or natural disasters here) what do your responses tell you about you?
What would you like to change in your life that would enable you to roll with external stimuli in such a way that instead of meeting your agitation as an aggregate aspect of you, that you meet a part of you who chooses calm instead of internal calamity.
How do you learn to calm the part of you that reacts in ways that create more tension and emotional obliteration?
5 tools to help make a difference in responses to the unknown:
- In the morning think about what new challenges will be presented: There will be something in the day that is unexpected: even if it is traffic.
- Prepare a response to the unknown that is evergreen (will work in more than one situation).
- Breathe, always: It’s easy as breathe in 1,2,3 and breathe out 1,2,3.
- Remember a time when any challenge faced was overcome with integrity.
- Assess how the stress was handled: what worked and what didn’t: Tomorrow is another day to try what is learned through the assessment
Then START THE NEXT DAY BY TAKING WHAT WAS LEARNED AND USE IT!
As always, thanks.