Our Super Power

For the last ten days, I, along with millions of others in America, have been gripped in the throes of Arctic Cold and snow. I used to look forward to such occasions: Snow days, ice skating on the nearby pond, hot cocoa with marshmallows. Why would anyone go to Florida!? Sissies!!

?After hours and days of breaking ice slabs in water tubs, toting hay bales on frozen divots, and having to pull off gloves to open my pocketknife with unresponsive fingers to cut twine, Florida started sounding pretty good. As a matter of fact, here and there I checked out the temps in West Palm Beach, and Ocala. Temps in the mid to high 70s. Pretty darn perfect.

?Inwardly I griped. So much so I got sick of my Debbie Downer inner talk. After all, this is the life I chose. So, what’s my beef?

?Complaining is such a human thing to do. Everyone does it, which makes it an unfortunate norm. People who are positive get knocked off their perches right quick like. Misery likes company, right? Happy optimistic people are Pollyannas, either dumb, lying to themselves or being lied to and too stupid to realize it. There’s even a mental illness called “Pollyannaism.” Those afflicted?ignore or avoid dealing with negative events by just looking only for the good and denying the bad. Poor folks. They refuse to live in our dog-eat-dog broken world.

?But woah!! What if the Pollyannas were on to something? What if looking at the good and denying the bad was the entrée, GOD FORBID! to Heaven on Earth!?

How about looking at where we are right now accepting that our choices brought us there—maybe not always literally—I mean who chooses to be born in a slum? Or to get cancer? But certainly figuratively. We get to choose how and where we show up emotionally, mentally, and spiritually to any circumstance. If you don’t believe me, pick up a copy of Victor Frankel’s book about his experiences in Nazi concentration camps, Man’s Search for Meaning.

How we view, interpret, and react to our circumstances, workplace, relationships, day to day life, no matter how fraught or frayed they may be is our choice: Bitter. Better. Best. We are in the driver’s seat. So, why make not make it a Porsche 911? ?That’s what coaching others and being coached does for me. It teaches leadership skills of how to behave, starting with our self.

?And, don’t you know, once I pushed Debbie Downer aside and let my Pollyanna take the wheel, the ride changed! The horses' grateful nickers and snuffles made me smile. I felt badass hale and hardy battling the winds. And the snowy landscapes glittering like diamonds strewn before my feet reminded that richness abounds everywhere, all the time. We just have to choose to see it and to remind ourselves constantly that free choice is our superpower.

?Cheery bye,

Susanna

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