Filament

She’s distraught and I’m listening.  A tremendous amount of energy fuels her anger and angst; fired up yet at the same time weary like Atlas, worn down under the weight of the world which she’s propped upon her shoulders.  As she unloads her despair over what’s transpired I can’t help but recall myself in a similar place, at a similar time in my life, fighting desperately to affect change, not realizing I really wasn’t in any position to make it happen, yet finding it impossible to let go.

It can take years of life experience to become skilled at untangling what we can’t change from what we can.  Once we’re able to discern the difference we begin the hard work of pushing from our minds what’s out of our dominion, focusing squarely on what we can influence.  For most of us, when it comes to dealing with circumstances beyond our control neutralizing our emotions is a major achievement.  But what if we could take it a step further?  What if instead of training ourselves to disregard what’s out of our purview, we think about how we might draw power from it?

 

A light bulb inside my head turns on when I read what Thomas Edison is rumored to have said when his lab, and the years of research within it, goes up in flames:  “Thank goodness all our mistakes were burned up.  Now we can start again fresh,”   Wow!  Imagine what we’d be capable of if we looked at the natural disasters of everyday living through those eyes. The post housing this anecdote goes even further saying “The ability to find energy and power from what we don’t control is an immense competitive advantage.”

And so I think about the compounding benefits of staying calm in the face of adversity.  While others are burning up precious strength reeling from whatever it is that life throws in the path, we can maintain momentum, re-charting our course, incorporating unforeseen consequences into our new plan of attack.

I’m going to venture to guess that no one is flawless when it comes to consistent practice of this kind of mindfulness.  We’re all human.  There’s not a single one of us who hasn’t wanted something or someone so badly we’ve been blind to the mountains we can’t move, and there is an undeniable rectitude in this passion. But refulgence is found in our ability to channel our fire into the path forward.