Miracle-Gro being poured upon me..
Against my de-sire to rest, like a student in his first day at college, en-countering a lot of instant learning. More than I want. More than makes me comfortable.
This happens when assaulted with many demands. It occurs when we experience a multitude of failures. Being the Attitude of Gratitude guy, I see things from a positive point of view, even during the rough-est times.
Failure and disappointment do not define us. Instead, re-silient people look at setbacks and learn from them. Then they move forward.
If thrown back once again and we fail, IT DOES NOT DEFINE US. It is no big deal.
I don't care for it, but disappointment and pressure has been my lot. Taxed---emotionally, mentally, physically, for the past two weeks.
As an awkward and wobbly elderly person leaning on a walker to get around illustrates how steady I feel, right now.
Topping it off, I experienced a sucker punch Tuesday. Shocked. Afterwards, throughout the day, I reeled.
I was a cat caught in a dark alley surrounded by dogs. Couldn't think straight. Ready to pounce.
Fear filling my every pore.
Worn-down, in HALT, my current condition. The re-sult of hard work. I become consumed with hidden tasks that go beyond ses-sions with clients.
Poor sleep adds to my weariness. Demands shout at me. Gearing my work in new ways drains me emotionally.
The laundry of my life
being resorted, making life discombobula-ting, disorienting. All this takes place as I take steps to better serve my clients.
Tuesday, for several hours, visions of doom took over. Not my us-ual state of mind. Making it worse, there appears to be no answers for my troubles.
Except for two.
1. Slowing down. We need to be deaf to what clamors for attention. We want to make time to take care of ourselves.
When we find ourselves in the hur-ricane
of
life, we need
to
make
sure we are at
our
strongest
. Rest, sleep, good, nutritious meals and exercise help us weather stormy times.
We want to be aware when we are in
HALT. We want make efforts to slow down. We are better off when we judiciously use our time.
This requires not letting E-mails consume our attention. We do not what to let them claim highest priority, even though they assault us daily. We
also
want
to
remain
deaf to barraging text messages and con-stant phone calls that bully us throughout the day.
2. We get better when we acknowledge Step One, in recovery.
"We admitted that we are powerless over ____ (fill in the blank) that our lives have become unmanageable." Step 1.
It helps recognizing our powerlessness. We've no control over the pronouns in our life: people, places, and things. It humbles us, recognizing life's unmanageability. We do not have control over everything.
Being present is the better alternative. It allows us to surf whatever circumstantial waves that slap at us.
We cannot handle the demands of life, alone, a humbling fact. An antidote is relying upon our Higher Power and our community of emo-tionally healthy friends. These are the ones where we enjoy braided relationships with gracious people.
Our Higher Pow-er and friends are the strands that hold together the rope of our life.
These strands help us internalize grace and strength we need but do not have when we are assaulted by life's storms.
Grace and personal strength flee from us when we are overwhelmed by life's demands and difficulties.
Growth happens when we embrace negative realities and consider our options. We do not submit to degrading or exhausting situations. We want to show kindness towards the struggles we face.
We ask, "What can I do, to show kindness towards the challenge before me. How can I stay in the solution, meeting my needs?" This attitude demonstrates resiliency.
This is embracing negative realities. We hug the Wild Things that comes our way. We work on our weaknesses and difficulties until they become our strengths.
Highs for the past week. This is an inventory of the last seven days.
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