Weathering the Storms - Day 5

“I started crying one day.

It was just a small thing that triggered it. Someone said something,” a woman reflected. “The problem was, once I started crying, I couldn’t stop. I didn’t understand what was going on. There was no apparent reason for why I felt so sad. For days, all the things in my life that had been working seemed to stop.”Little storms of despair, hopelessness, or self-hatred may squall up out of nowhere in our lives. We can hunker down and protect ourselves even when the storm is inside us.

Action: Don’t back yourself into a corner. What are your options? Don’t just come up with Plan A. Figure out a Plan B too. It might not be time to do anything yet. The storm may only be threatening. But see how much better you feel when you know you can make some choices.

Sometimes you’ve got to make emergency decisions. Instead of standing there saying, “I can’t believe it’s raining,” remember first things first. If someone who is usually trustworthy hits you with a manipulation, don’t stand there trying to get him or her back on track. If an idea occurs to you about what to do to take care of yourself, don’t instantly reject it, thinking, “Oh that’s silly and I don’t need to do that.”The first thing to do may be to protect yourself.

From the book: 52 Weeks of Conscious Contact