RESUME NORMAL SAFE OPERATION

​It's been awhile since I've saved & shared some thoughts, so in the spirit of keeping up a "regular" blog (does every year or two or three count?) here goes:
RESUME NORMAL SAFE OPERATION
This sign came with entendres aplenty. It hit me rather unexpectedly, in it’s size, font, coloring and position, right next to a walking path, where it practically jumped out and smacked me upside th’ head. Of course it is intended for boaters who were low-to-no-wake, navigating under the drawbridge and through the narrows exiting the intercoastal. It signals the moment when the captain moves the throttles purposefully into acceleration, sending the craft forward and on-plane with more thrust and stability.
 
How does this correlate to this moment in time?
 
Well, life is full of readjustments. We move forward, we hit a bump in the road or a detour, perhaps a rogue wave, we reevaluate, regroup, and rewind a little sometimes, then we re-engage and we…RESUME NORMAL SAFE OPERATION. Not to be misinterpreted as cautionary or conservative, safe means (to me, in this context) calculated risk…that’s very different than uninformed, or “risky” risk.
 
Cracking the code. Why are we here? What is It I’m supposed to be doing? How do ANY of us know what’s going on?!?
 
Well, to mis-paraphrase a famous actor’s quote (who probably got this quote from another not-so-famous Regular Human) If we’re not busy livin’, then we’re dyin’! What direction would YOU rather be going?!?
 
As I look back on the stages of my life, I see patterns…and I also see a good dose of randomness. Hey, I’m closer to a philosopher than a doctor, so take what I have to say (write) with a grain (or a complete shaker) of salt, ok?
 
When I’m engaged and focused on a project or relationship, I go all-in. I don’t lose any sleep; but I DO lay my head down on the pillow…and awake again, thinking about how much I love that project, relationship, or particular situation in my life…and how I can work to make it better. How do I parent better today than I did yesterday? How do I show up for my partner in a more meaningful way? How can I show my customers I appreciate being their first choice, time after time?
 
Some of this is gratitude, some of it dives deeper into radical gratitude, which is to say: how good are you at taking ANYthing and EVERYthing that comes your way in life and being GRATEFUL for the GIFT, or GRATEFUL for the LESSON. Do you mean it? Or do you think you wish you meant it when the going gets tough?
 
The litmus test presents itself with every difficult situation. It’s not difficult to identify, it’s not even attempting to hide…it’s there in plain sight. Examples: The traffic jam that leaves you locked in a frozen, immoveable grid…for an unknown amount of time; you are at the mercy of the authorities and those gridlocked motorists around you to escape, or wait. How about the business opportunity that doesn’t go your way, no matter how complete your research was, no matter how you poured over every detail, leaving no stone unturned? No shortage of examples within a bottomless pool of life’s situations and themes, so I need not go on.
 
How do you perform in the face of adversity? How do you play the cards you’re dealt? Are you REALLY easygoing? Or does the going need to be easy…? Can you keep your composure when everyone around you, and even the concept of composure itself…is fleeting, blurry, and difficult to grasp?
 
I am under the belief, the philosophy that the difficult times define us. The unexpected and unwelcome forges our pathway to acceptance, to peace, to gratitude for the lesson. THEN we move forward with one more nugget in our “experience pouch” with which we add value to our journey.
If you’ve read “The Alchemist,” then you’ll get the pouch reference. If not, then what are you waiting for?!?
 
With that, my friends and readers, I’ll wrap this bloggy little entry to be deposited into the ether, and/or the interwebs. May your future be as easygoing as you think it should be, and then some. And after every unexpected detour, lambada, or rogue wave, may you RESUME NORMAL SAFE OPERATION with speed, grace and in the direction of your dreams.

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