Hurricane Winds that Blow Through our Lives

I've always subscribed to the idea that when normal winds blow through our lives like cars that need extra fixing or stuff that comes up in school that needs to be paid for or you had a tiff with your cubicle mate, we can withstand the gusts. But when gales the size of hurricanes blow through - we really need to have our feet on the ground and have personal systems in place.

Psychologists say that how we respond to the little things in life is how we will respond to the big things in our lives. Did you fly off the handle when someone didn't get their work in on time today? Did you yell at your kid when he spilled milk at the dinner table? Did you wake up and stress over all the things that you didn't get done today? Did you know that you had a choice in each of these situations?

There is a formula that I found that works in every single situation of our lives. The formula is E + R = O. Jack Canfield, in his book, "How to Build Self Esteem," came up with event (E) plus response (R) equals outcome (O). When those life events happen, we don't have a lot of control over them....at first. We usually respond with emotion. After a bit, maybe a couple of weeks, we can choose to have the event dominate our lives or to be in charge ourselves. Either way will affect the outcome.

We have come through a week of gale force winds the size of a hurricane with the biggest drop in stock market history and the smell of fear in the air. No one knows what will happen next. Will the hurricane literally blow our house down? That is the event, now we have a choice, will we have the courage to take charge of our lives, remain calm, put one foot in front of the other and see it through to the other side of this storm. As for me and my family, we've decided to continue our day to day routine, pray for the leaders of this country and trust that the good Lord has something great planned for us today. But I'm in charge of me today! Are you?

Comments

[Jean McFarland]

Kitty, this is the first time I've visited your blog, and I am so impressed. Your writings are both inspirational and practical. Thank You. I'll be back.