Weather the Storm.

‘Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.’ -Vivian Greene

Life is a series of storms, either in a storm, coming out of a storm, or heading into a storm. It is not a matter of if but of when the storms of life will visit. As Vivian Greene famously said, ‘Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.’ We can’t really do much about the storms of life, but we can surely be well-dressed for every stormy weather. There is nothing like bad weather, we only have bad clothing as the Scandanavians would say.

Life can be extremely tough sometimes, and the storms keep coming from every angle. The key to navigating life storms is to understand that it is an essential part of life. No pain, no gain, no mess, no message, no test, no testimony, no mud, no lotus. The storm will eventually settle, the sun will rise again, and you will ultimately be fine. Weather the storm while it lasts, life is about managing transitions and learning to stay grounded amid the turbulence. Nothing lasts forever; don’t let success get to your head, and do not let failure get to your heart.

Watch your feet

American businesswoman and president of Ariel Investments, Mellody Hobson, shares a great insight she learned from her husband, George Lucas. Mellody’s company, Ariel, was going through a turbulent period during the 2008 economic meltdown, and the pressure was getting to her. Mellody’s boyfriend at the time (and later her husband), American film director George Lucas, gave some advice that stuck with her: ¹

Early one morning during the crisis, global markets were plunging. Hobson doesn’t usually focus on day-to-day fluctuations, but this day she was staring at the TV, hyperventilating. She and Lucas always talk at 7:30 A.M. Chicago time when they’re in different cities. “George said, ‘What do you know better than anyone else because you live in Chicago?’ ” she recalls. “I said, ‘George, I have no idea. I’m not interested in mind games.’ He said, ‘The one thing you have in Chicago is snowstorms. What do you know about snowstorms? In a snowstorm, when you’re trying to get from one place to another place, you never look up at the storm. You watch your feet. If you look up at the storm you will fall.’ ” Hobson says, “I went to work, and thought, We must stay focused and watch our feet. We must just do the work.”

“In a snowstorm, when you’re trying to get from one place to another place, you never look up at the storm. You watch your feet. If you look up at the storm you will fall.’

“You’re from Chicago. What does Chicago have a lot of? Snowstorms and blizzards. You do not look up at the storm. There’s nothing you can do about it. Watch your feet, because if you don’t watch your feet, you fall.” That meant handling what you can control and ignoring the rest.

Controlling what you can and not wasting energy on what you can’t is one of the most important lessons we can learn in life. Emotionally strong people don’t waste their energy when they are stuck in bad traffic, lose their luggage, or get caught in a storm. They recognize that all of these factors are beyond their control. Instead, they focus on what they can control. ²

Take responsibility for the things you can control:

Attitude—you determine how you think or feel.
Time—you determine how you spend time and who you spend it with.
Priorities—you determine what is important in your life and how much time you give to these essentials.
Passion—you identify what you love and what you were created to do.
Potential—you determine where you commit yourself to grow.

Meditations

Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Shared Humanity

As we go about our day, we go through all kinds of frustrations. People don’t usually carry signs signifying their struggles like beginner drivers. By deepening our compassion, we prevent impatience and frustration from hijacking our day.

“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.” ― Pema Chödrön, The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult

Daily Jay with Jay Shetty – Incremental Growth

It took Michangelo three years to sculpt his iconic statue of David, but every day, as the artist shaped the marble, he could see his progress and little by little, the image he imagined emerged. We often believe that once we set out to make a change, that shift should be evident instantaneously overnight. In reality, we are more like inchworms than frogs. Our breakthroughs come less from huge leaps forward and more from steady incremental progress. Until one day, you notice how far you’ve come.

Daily Trip with Jeff Warren – Balancing on the Head of a Pin

The mind is very sneaky; in a split second, it can take you far away.