2023: Tame The Wind, or Turn Your Sail?

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, and the last few years, it brought home the truth of the old proverb: “You can’t tame the wind, but you can turn your sail”.

The truth is that many of us spent much of the pandemic and last few years seeking to “tame the wind”, only to realize that the wind is far more relentless and powerful than we are. So now, we are thinking about how we can spend more time “turning our sail” rather than seeking to tame the wind.

As a Certified Flourishing Coach?, one of the mental fitness principles I teach our team and my clients is “controlling the controllables”. Controlling the controllables is a critical ethos of high performers. In sports, athletes have limited amounts of physical and emotional energy, and so wasting time and energy on things they have no control over is a recipe for painful loss. In business, organizational leaders have finite resources to pursue their objectives and so they need to be skilled in how they allocate those resources. In the same way, if we empty our container of mental and emotional energy on the things we cannot control, we will have nothing left for the things which we can. We are impacted every day by events that are beyond our control, but we can still react creatively and constructively. Don’t lose your sense of agency or empowerment complaining over the things you cannot control when you can simply focus on what you can. We cannot tame the wind, but we can turn our sails. We can only turn our sails by focusing on what we can control.

What CAN We Control?

Here is a list of things we can control to turn our sails, regardless of the wind:

1.???Your Readiness: I cannot control the wind, but I can control my preparation. Wisdom says to prepare for storms which may yet come. The depth of our preparation determines the height of our destiny.?

2.???Your Relationships: Storms are not meant to be endured alone. Actually, the lonelier the storm, the worse the outcome. Surround yourself with a team of support and be there for others when they face their storms.

3.???Your Reactions, or Attitude: Your attitude determines your altitude. How do you want to spend your time? The laziest reactions are negativity, judgment (villain), and self-pity (victim). The best reactions are positivity, agency, and kindness. Let’s focus on the few things that we can control!?

4.???Your Responsibility (Response-ability): Years ago, the world-renowned psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl, M.D., Ph.D., warned that freedom threatens to degenerate into mere license and arbitrariness unless it is lived responsibly. Although he enjoyed his time spent in America and admired much about it, Dr. Frankl was not shy about criticizing the popular understanding of some cherished American values, such as the notion of freedom. He took exception, for instance, to what appeared to be a commonly accepted view of equating freedom with a license to do virtually anything one wants. To Frankl, freedom without responsibility was an oxymoron. That is why he suggested that the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on the East Coast be supplemented by a “Statue of Responsibility” somewhere along the West Coast. Listen to what he said in Man’s Search For Meaning: “Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.” (Frankl, 1992). Let’s not be irresponsible in our use of freedom, blaming others and circumstances for where we are currently, but taking full responsibility and rising up to be the best we can, with what we have. You are not responsible for being the best you can with what you don't have, but you are responsible for being the best that you can with what you do have.

5.???Your Resourcefulness: We do not lack resources, but perhaps resourcefulness.?Resourcefulness is doing the best you can with what you have, and seeing opportunity where others only see obstacles. It’s not the lack of resources that cause failure, it’s the lack of resourcefulness that causes failure. Again, because we need to hear it often: It’s not about the resources you have available. It’s about the resourcefulness you have within you.

6.???Your Rest: Ovid was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Caesar Augustus, who said this about the time of Christ: “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” I love this! He reminds us that for millennia farmers have known that every so often they must allow a field to "rest" or go fallow between plantings. Fallow land is that which has undergone plowing in the past and has been purposely left unseeded for one or more growing seasons so the soil can rest and regenerate the minerals and other elements needed to grow vital, productive crops. Metaphorically speaking, our growing "field" is our body, mind, and spirit. It's no secret that how well they work together in the creative process to produce a life of purpose, meaning, and flourishing depends, in part, on how well-rested they are. We need appropriate "timeouts" if we want to live a vibrant and productive life.

7.???Your Radiance: We all radiate or emit a certain energy or vibe, and then we tend to receive what we radiate. So, imagine what you want to receive from others and then radiate that, because the law of sowing and reaping is universal. Somehow, I think rest and radiance may be connected…