Staying Present

In days past I've often been quite reactive.  Not necessarily in hurtful ways, at least not to others, but my tendency when things don't go my way is to get anxious and start projecting where this current irritation will lead.  My projections never lead to a good outcome.  Fortunately I am not a worrier by nature and I usually put a stop to this negative projecting fairly quickly before any harm is done.

I was driving down my little country road the other day, running barely on time for an appointment when my wheel began knocking ominously.  I got out and walked around the car and couldn't find a problem.   Perhaps it was because the world didn't end on 12-21-12, or maybe it was simply because the stresses of the Christmas and New Year were over, I was able to stay calm, hoping for the best.  It was when I was at the gas station filling up that I noticed one tire was indeed three quarters flat.  Once again I put my flappable self on the back burner and dealt only with the facts presented:  i) the tire wasn't completely flat and therefore could be driven (carefully!) a short distance, ii) there is a tire shop within 50yards of the gas station.  So far so good.

My next moment to get myself in a flap immediately presented itself - the tire was punctured through the sidewall and not repairable.  I needed a new tire!  The tire was only a few months old and I wasn't in the mood to buy yet another tire!  Breathe...  I took a moment to regroup then asked the mechanic to put on my spare.  I loaded up the ruined tire, took it to the shop where I purchased it, where I was informed they have a road hazard warranty and my tire would be replaced with new one for the price of another road hazard warranty - $16 only!!

Here I will make a shameless plug for America's Tire.  You guys rock.

At the end of the day I realized that even in the middle of the storm you never know just when, against all odds, a ray of sun is going to break through.  For me it isn't easy to always be positive but neutral works very well, too, I just need to stay in the moment and keep my eyes open.

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I'm linking this to http://sundaystills.wordpress.com at the challenge this week is one tree and this just seems to fit.  Click on the link to see more interpretations of one tree.