How do you carry on in the face of adversity?
Keep your cool, stay calm – that would be the first order of business! A few days ago the Huffington Post.com wrote:
There’s no escaping the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster. From coffee mugs , to bandaids and now memes, the British slogan is simply everywhere. Perfectly, it captures the stiff upper lip culture from across the pond, which has inevitably made its way stateside. For those who’ve wondered where the devil the poster first came from, here’s a YouTube video to unravel the mystery of the iconic poster for you.
BTW, that Brit store, Barter Books (featured in the YouTube video) looks like a really neat place – I’m putting it on my “someday” list… but that’s another post… right now I need to focus on “carrying on”.
Sometimes your best response to adversity is to hunker down and hang in there.
There is no good in arguing with the inevitable.
The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.
— James Russell Lowell
The other day the TV weatherman announced high wind warnings and a worrisome night – one that rousted me out of bed at midnight. As my wind-buffeted house shuddered I worried, worried, worried over things not tied down: patio furniture, awnings, umbrellas… and the bitty little hummingbird perched directly in the path of those howling winds that Continue reading » When Strong Winds Blow – Hunker Down
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
— Voltaire
How do we survive adversity? What is the difference between surviving and thriving?
I believe the difference is in how we tell our story. And often, the story we tell is the one we inherited.
My mother grew up in the depression. She was one of those people who remembered the depression as being an awful time. There were four of them, my grandfather and grandmother, my aunt and Mom. To hear her tell the story, life was Continue reading » Appreciate What You Have
I must learn to love the fool in me the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries.
— Theodore Isaac Rubin
Do you believe that you are a learning and growing being? Back in the beginning of the self-esteem movement, many proponents recommended that you repeat an affirmation to help you improve your self-esteem. It went, “Everyday, in every way, I’m getting better and better.” To say that this became the basis of jokes about self-esteem is to understate how much of a Continue reading » Better and Better
“Healing,” Papa would tell me, “is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.”
— W.H. Auden
Pain is a sign that something is wrong – a muscle injured or a loss endured. It has a positive role to play in our survival. But when we are in pain, it doesn’t seem positive. It hurts. It distracts us from the behaviors that we know work. And, because we are distracted, we sometimes don’t make the best choices.
At the beginning of my great adventure, my second day on the job, I fell. I stepped on a seed pod, turned my ankle and ended up on my back like a Continue reading » Healing the Pain
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