Rain in the Grass

It's been raining for weeks on end, and the weather has been a bit perplexing. I've been made aware of something called seasonal lag (or drag?) in which each month, which should normally correspond to the appropriate picture on a calendar (October = Multicolored Leaves and Pumpkins), is acting like a teenager who doesn't want to get out of bed. So it sounds something like June screaming, "Let me be May one more month, Mom (or Mother Earth, depending on your level of formality.) So, what does this mean to the rest of us? Depending on your makeup, some people (like me, ahem) tend to be lighter, more energetic, and just plain ecstatic when the sun is shining. But today, as one more person was expressing their distaste for the endless rain parade, they threw one last line in that completely caught me off guard. This instant of reframing went something like this- "I guess I will just have to get done what I normally would get done, like if I lived in a place that snows all winter - life would just have to move on." Aha! It occurred to me that it is so natural and acceptable to bow out of life due to severe weather conditions.

Rainy days usually give us a unilateral reason to feel unproductive, lazy, cozy, even gleeful that we get to stay indoors and read a good book instead of feeling pressure to "get something done" while the gardens get tended, the cars get washed and the earth is rehydrated. Constant, endless days of rain tend to lose their charm. Instead it says that the game is up, and whether you feel like it or not, life is going to have to move on as normal. One day of rain that feels like a warm blanket and chicken soup all of a sudden doesn't have the same comfort, the same residual feeling of "we are all in this together" that unifies us in a downpour. Suddenly, we are moving around, expected to do our work, all the while getting soaked in the process, and it's not always well received. Until, that is, someone makes such a starkly honest and simple statement such as the one above, and then it suddenly resets our expectations, and a renewed sense of mission is established. Yeah, it's raining, and yep, I am going to suit up, and be a part of the world today.

And since there is only so much of an excuse to be grumpy (it's raining, of course!) that second day out in the storm is a new beginning, a new way to see past the dark clouds, the ominous thunder, the endless drip, drip, drip on the windows. It will be sunny again, (unless I have any readers in Seattle- sorry, this blogs just not for you) because Annie told us it would come out tomorrow. But until it does, we will find a way to smile, to be grateful for the seasons, even if they are being unpredictable, because isn't that life? Life too is unpredictable and most of the time, we are Tiggers until life shows us a bit of darkness, and suddenly we turn on ourselves like a nimbus cloud. Like life, we can't always pick the weather. What we can choose is how we will frame our situation, whether we are going to let something that is outside of our control ruffle our feathers or if we will find our inner grace in a stormy world. I found it inspiring to reframe the rainy weather- what situation can you reframe?

Good Morning, My Name is Opportunity. How May I Direct Your Call?

Opportunity knocks, all the time! On our front doors, back doors, car doors ( you get the point.) It is knocking loudly, softly, and sometimes it leaves a note. The thing about opportunity is that we do not know it is Opportunity until we open the door (or window), invite him (or her) in, and have a nice, long chat. And even then, we don't know if it is really, really Opportunity until we invite our houseguest in for a while and see how we live together- do we like the same things, how do we share the bathroom in the morning, is Opportunity a meat-eater like me?

The way we tend to see it is this: Opportunity only looks like Opportunity once we've seen what she (or he) can do for us. Show me your Opportunity license, and I'll make a deal with you- this is how we bargain and shop around until we know exactly what kind of Opportunity we are getting. But here's the thing- the real kicker- is that we will never know Opportunity until we allow ourselves to unlock the doors of our souls and leave the window to our hearts open enough for new things and people and events to show us their truth. We will never know what opportunities really are because we do not have a crystal ball to tell us ahead of time that right now, this time, this opportunity is worth taking. When someone says, "Opportunity is around every corner!", this is what they mean- we never know the end result of any situation before it happens, and we can't put a qualifier on experiences to determine which opportunity will pay off. The real truth is that everything is an opportunity because until we are playing Monday morning quarterback, we won't really know how the game will be played. If we begin to see Opportunity as a friend, one that likes to play practical jokes on us from time to time, but a friend nonetheless, maybe we will start to see opportunity as he (or she) is meant to be seen. As a wrapped gift with something wonderful inside- a lesson we need to learn, a friend we need to meet, or a road that we need to take. It may not always be "the one" (if you've been paying attention, you know where this is going) but then again, how and when will you know? Your life is a long story and each time opportunity knocks and we invite him (or her) in, we add a page to it. Endings are nice but only a few of us ever read the last page first. Next time Opportunity comes calling, how will you answer?

Big Scary Change?

I've been thinking a lot about change...as a coach, this is obviously (or not?) a huge part of what has to occur in order to get closer to the life we want to create with our clients. Change is very polarizing, and like the band Rush, you either love it or hate it. I love change but does change show me any love back? In short, it does. The question I've really been debating is how big does a change in your life have to be to change your life? The answer: not very big. Small changes, slight deviations in our every day routine, can jolt us awake like an energy drink awaiting FDA approval. Our brains function on autopilot when we stick to routines, so that entire blocks of our days are blotted out of our memory- suddenly we are sitting in traffic on the way home, but forgot how we got in the car. We are literally on a different brain wave. When we switch it up just a little, our lives can take on a whole new sense of excitement. If you don't buy what I am selling, try it one day and see how you feel. Go to a new coffee shop, drive a little out of your way to take the scenic drive to work, leave the office 30 minutes earlier than normal- suddenly small changes turn into bigger changes. We get a rush from this new awareness that we are making choices instead of setting ourselves on autopilot, and then we begin to experiment with some more small changes and as we calibrate ourselves with these changes, it may turn out that a few little tweaks here and there make a whole big difference in our attitudes, relationships and overall drive. So, what small change are you going to make?

Fractions of Life

One of the things that completely fascinates me about life is the moments that we can trace back to the origin point, and know if not for that decision/experience/run-in, we would be living a completely different path. I used to say how my life was hinged on a brief encounter with a stranger, without which I would not live in my house, be engaged to my fiance, or in fact, have ever become a life coach. Maybe those things would have happened, if you are a fatalist, but that topic can wait for another day.

I once read this article about meditation, and to paraphrase it, the article said that meditation lengthens the time between thought and action. This has shaped my entire existence and inspires me every day. Finding a place of quiet thought, in whatever form your meditation comes in, can give you the space to find the moment you say yes, instead of no.

I am intrigued by the fragility of that fraction of a thought that could have tipped the scale between thinking we can not do something and then doing it anyway. Our lives are lived by those fractions of thoughts, and it is hard to believe that this is somehow random because it is those times that we struggle the most to act that we find the greatest rewards, the life changing experience that almost did not happen.

It is those moments of doubt that keep us encased in our world of safety and the times when we can overcome our fears that become legendary. For me, it's a brief encounter with a stranger. What is your moment?