just as soon as you feel like you have a peaceful handle on things,
and you've decided that your life feels good and rightish,
something will happen or be said or done that will feel like
giant hands coming in to shake and bake you.
it may be a person, it may be money, it may be an illness
or an injury, physical or emotional
and it will always be a surprise.
my first reaction is usually panic that can quickly turn to anger
or dismay. these make me lash out or hole up in a corner.
but you don't have to.
i read once that most strong visceral emotions last about 90 seconds.
wait it out, breathe, pray, journal, look at videos of baby pigs or
Ana de Armas or quotes your mother stuck on your bathroom mirror
until the initial raw reaction loses it jagged edges.
then remember, you have choices.
you have options.
you have a big heart, a good mind, and can say anything that
needs to be said with wisdom and love.
sometimes, by the time you get past the baby pigs and
the Mary Oliver mirror quotes, you realize you don't have as much
to say as you thought.
and if you do it always comes out differently.
but i don't mean you have to say things perfectly for them
to matter.
this is all just a long way to repeat the overused phrase of
"guard your peace with love."
it turns out there's a reason we need to hear it over and over.
and you've decided that your life feels good and rightish,
something will happen or be said or done that will feel like
giant hands coming in to shake and bake you.
it may be a person, it may be money, it may be an illness
or an injury, physical or emotional
and it will always be a surprise.
my first reaction is usually panic that can quickly turn to anger
or dismay. these make me lash out or hole up in a corner.
but you don't have to.
i read once that most strong visceral emotions last about 90 seconds.
wait it out, breathe, pray, journal, look at videos of baby pigs or
Ana de Armas or quotes your mother stuck on your bathroom mirror
until the initial raw reaction loses it jagged edges.
then remember, you have choices.
you have options.
you have a big heart, a good mind, and can say anything that
needs to be said with wisdom and love.
sometimes, by the time you get past the baby pigs and
the Mary Oliver mirror quotes, you realize you don't have as much
to say as you thought.
and if you do it always comes out differently.
but i don't mean you have to say things perfectly for them
to matter.
this is all just a long way to repeat the overused phrase of
"guard your peace with love."
it turns out there's a reason we need to hear it over and over.