Hi Friend
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. The weather folks redeemed themselves this week. It definitely got cold and it definitely snowed. Three days in a row we broke records for temperature and snowfall. Some were over 100 years old. What a lovely time to be alive! In Oklahoma we had some rolling blackouts, but nothing compared to our friends just south of us.
My greatest difficulty was that USPS shockingly didn’t run for two days (Don’t they have some sort of slogan about not being thwarted?) and all my Amazon packages are delayed. Super grateful heat and power stayed on and I didn’t have to drive anywhere. When you’re safe and warm, it’s such a different perspective. I love the beauty of the snow.
If I had been stuck in my car in the middle of the road, I wouldn’t have felt that way. Or if the pipes in my house broke, there would be nothing beautiful about the snow at all.
It seems like life continues to give us exaggerated examples of how little is in our control and how we, collective humanity or local neighborhood, experience the same situations so differently. I was chatting with my friend Mathew who lives in the north DFW area. He took the opportunity to create fun for his kids with the never-seen-this-much-snow-before scenario and give them an extraordinary experience.
We laughed about how it’s definitely a Memory-Making-Moment. His kids won’t forget this winter. Heck, I still recall the “Blizzard of 78” as an eight year old in Ohio. I loved making snow tunnels!
Can Every Situation be Positive?
I’m a raging optimist. I am very conscious that I unintentionally, and sometimes intentionally, disregard reality. I can tout the advantages of living through a prism of hope, relentlessly. I’m also aware there is enormous hurt, frustration, disappointment and pain everyone experiences in different doses at different times. When it’s severe, long-lasting or both the soul grows weary.
A tired soul does a few really detrimental things:
Gives Up
Magnifies the Negative
Embraces Victimism
I’ve done all three.🙁 The consequences are more severe than any adverse external situation could muster. Part of our responsibility is to not let the things happening out here (arms spreading all around) get inside of us. The effort to prevent that is equally exhausting. Being optimistic is an extra layer of protection, though not impenetrable!
Have you ever given up? Like legitimately said “I’m done.” And meant it. Not in a good way, like a stop-doing list, but from a place that sees no way out, so just stops trying. The cascading consequence of capitulation is catastrophic!
Have you ever noticed negativity multiplying? When our attention is fixed on a yucky situation or feeling, more of them tend to appear; diminishing possibility and amplifying discouragement. The compounding consequence of concentration is constricting!
Have you ever believed your setbacks are someone else’s fault? Or maybe felt powerless in a season and blamed another? It’s practically an American Heritage to hold others at fault for our lack of well-being. Yet, the moment we relinquish responsibility and assign it elsewhere, we forfeit the chance to regain the reality we want. The corrosive consequence of clutching casualty is confinement!
Instigating Ideas
1. What’s your best winter childhood memory? Share it with someone.
2. Optimist. Realist. Pessimist. Which are you? List two pros and cons for each.
3. If negativity is bombarding, daily write down three positive things in your life.
A tired soul is dangerous; both for ourselves and the ones we love. I’m all for resting the body. But I suspect, a rejuvenated soul has a bigger benefit for our body, then a good nights sleep. It certainly has an exponential impact when we’re awake!
Hopefully if you’re experiencing a winter in your life (not just the weather), you can discover where the memorable moments are waiting to be had.