The Fine Art of Flexibility
When I planned to write this blog, I planned for it to be about staying safe at Halloween. I planned to have a twitter chat about that as well. I planned to have plenty of time to get that all done while my kids were at school, in fact I had all sorts of plans. Well you know what they say about even the best-laid plans.
I live on the East Coast, in a small town in Connecticut. We are about an hour away from Manhattan and there is an expression New Englanders like to use to describe our weather. If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute…
That is true tonight. We are waiting out a late season hurricane named Sandy. In fact, the news said she has just been upgraded from a hurricane, to a super storm. Apparently our hurricane has teamed up with a cold front and a wintry mix from the Great Lakes. How fabulous! Still it seems like Sandy’s promotion is not really good news for us.
God willing all will be well and everyone will stay safe and take this unexpected family time as a gift. If we can let go of our plans, just a little, it is easy to see this time as a gift. For many people, offices are closed and very little work is happening unless you are a first responder. If you are a first responder, thank you and what are doing reading this blog???
Today and tomorrow are great opportunities to play indoors. How about a fort in the living room? Flashlights are the current fashion in accessories anyway. In the daytime, why not paint your pumpkins or even do some baking? Share your secret ingredient with your kids and discover how much it means to them to be part of your inner circle. How about a game of cards or an hour with your photo albums? There are lots of ways to surrender to this moment and make memories that defy the storm’s best efforts to spoil the day.
I think a lot of life is like that. Happiness comes from learning how to dance in the rain, rather than waiting for each storm to pass. Trees that last for generations are the ones strong enough to bend. Storms will come. They come all the time. Sometimes they come from the weather, other times they come from our careers, friends or even family. Storms are a part of life. Storms are guaranteed, we don’t usually get to decide when and how they will affect us, but we are not without some power.
We all have the power to choose our reaction. We get to decide how we respond. We get to decide how we will prepare our children to navigate through the storms of life. We can choose anger, rigidity, frustration and we can choose, to see adventure, opportunity and gratitude. The best way I know to get to gratitude is to be flexible. Flexible and open to what the day will hold, even if you really thought you already knew what the day should hold.
Kids get surprised all the time. Plans change, routines are compromised and at least half of the time we take them out, our kids only think they know where we are going. Flexibility is more than just helpful it is a life skill. The ability to roll with the punches and find the silver linings means our kids can survive the storms. So, I guess this blog really is about staying safe, just not in the way I first intended.
Perhaps the best safety skill we can teach our kids is to try to relax and stay flexible. That way, they really will be able to dance through the rain.
Remember to keep your face to sun, even while the storms surround you.
Marilynn
Categories: General
