Oh Spring!!! You have shown up and not a moment too soon. What has been an insanely dramatic winter has been followed by this glorious, warm sunshine. A perfect time to think about and practice gratitude.
Our lives consist of a series of things going right. From birth. To make it this far, thinking about all of the possible complications and near misses and yet, here we are. All of the collaboration and cooperation that has needed to line up just so. The general workings of things. It is pretty dang miraculous. And yet sometimes it is so tempting to focus on the hiccups, the oops, the oh crap, what … moments... and go down that rabbit hole. Which inevitably leads to blame. Blame is the polar opposite of gratitude. The difference between , "Thank you", and "F you". And then being pissed off. Which leads to spilling our vitriol often onto someone totally innocent and unsuspecting and then we feel like crap, and then... ad infinitum. We have all been there. Worked up and pissed off and like, wait, what? How did this whole thing derail...?
I have found it most helpful to simply stop, and be quiet. Even mid rant or mid sentence. Just a huge self edit. Followed by, " I am sorry." What are you sorry for? It could be anything. It could simply be that you are sorry this whole exchange has descended into whatever it has descended into. It could be you are sorry for being a complete ass. It could be you are sorry that the other person is a complete ass but that you are playing into it. It could be you are sorry that you now feel out of control, and your heart is racing and you feel the tears coming. Any of these scenarios is OK. And any way that you can exit is OK. Just exit. THAT is within your control. And usually, not every single time but usually, by shutting the whole thing down with an "I'm sorry", followed by quiet, we can reclaim the peace that we crave, and the love and forgiveness that we all need...for ourselves and for others. And ultimately leads us to humble gratitude for the miracle of all that is right. xo brendalanecoaching.com