When Things Don't Go as Planned

Planning ahead for many things is usually a good idea. If you are hosting a party, you can prepare for your guests, and they can set aside a certain date for the occasion. All is well with this.

But what happens when things go awry? The unexpected takes place? How do you deal with it?

Planning usually involves expected outcomes. Outcomes are based on an imagined future, and possibly also based on previous events similar in nature, such as a party or celebration. Even a funeral, perhaps.

When something goes wrong, the expectations are destroyed, and our emotions become disengaged or jumbled from the reality of a new situation.

Suppose you are travelling in a car to work, and experience a mechanical failure with your vehicle, or are held up in traffic. Your arrival time (expectation) is altered and you need to deal with a different reality.

For most of us, it's not a really big deal as we've experienced outside forces at work in our lives before.

What if, on the other hand, the expectations were much larger say, taking a grand vacation to the other side of the world or some other exciting adventure. Larger, less frequent events in our lives require greater planning and greater expectations. If we've never been to the top of Mt. Kiliminjaro (or even if we have!) the anticipation of the journey has us excited.

When larger, more exciting events lie before us, and an intervening glitch appears, it brings feelings of disappointment, maybe anger. Flight delays. Missing an important connection or meeting or opportunity. It's easy to start blaming and "what if's" to help alleviate these feelings, to "make ourselves feel better".

Well, negativity doesn't usually produce good results.

Here's an idea for you.

Ever tried being #grateful when everything turns upside down? Giving thanks to a situation that you have allowed to ruin your day?

It's simple.

No, it's certainly not easy. But it's simple.

Prepare yourself by starting with something small. Suppose you are brushing your teeth and the brush falls on the floor.

UGH!

Now you have a dirty toothbrush, a mess on the floor and your routine is out the window! That could upset you.

But....you are capable to bend over and pick up the toothbrush. You HAVE a toothbrush. Chances are you've eaten something and need to clean your teeth. You HAVE teeth.

There are three things right there to be #grateful for, right?

How many of you are #grateful for dropping your toothbrush on the floor?

How many of you are able to be #grateful for the three ways that you can respond to this scenario?

Try it.

In the next few weeks I will show you how you can respond with #gratitude to a multitude of situations, which I distinguish as "soft" gratitude and "hard" gratitude.

I'd appreciate any feedback and reactions to my ideas, any thoughts you may have about how it works, if it works.

It's simple. Looking forward to your participation!