Instead of making resolutions I have set two intentions for what I want to work on this year:
- To continue to work on the management of my chaotic mind.
- To become even more self responsible.
This is a full time undertaking, believe me.
To that end I wanted to share a mind managing moment I had last week… because it was really cool AND it saved me from throwing myself a pity party of epic proportions.
Right before Christmas… on one of the coldest mornings we had experienced… when my husband was really sick with the flu…. our furnace failed to go on.
I reluctantly roused said husband from his sick-bed and made him figure out what was wrong. Heartless? Perhaps. But it saved our house from being blown up by someone who had no idea how to ignite the pilot light. It was for the greater good.
He managed to get the pilot light lit but with difficulty. A week later a furnace specialist came out to take a look at our antiquated heating equipment.
(Photo by Hush Naidoo on Unsplash)
Diagnosis: Condemned.
The furnace was pronounced unsafe and condemned by the specialist.
Treatment: Replace the furnace.
And breathe.
In my unmanaged-mind-past this would have sent me into a tailspin of cursing the furnace deity and general victimhood. My reaction would have been ugly but impressive in its scope. I would have spent days in a dark funk, sucking everyone around my into my vortex of pain and loathing.
Fortunately this news caught me on a day when I was in top mind managing form.
Without a lot of conscious thought I took the news through the trusty thought model I am so fond of.
Circumstance: The furnace needed to be replaced.
Thought: The furnace was OLD and not very good at its job any more.
Feeling: Excitement over a new furnace that might actually heat the house.
Action: Calmly saying to my husband, “Okay, I’ve got the money… let’s do this.”
Result: No cursing or sucking vortexes of pain, just a brand new, highly efficient furnace that will last for at least 15 years.
Lest you think I am a mind managing whiz all the time let me assure you that I am not.
I have moments when I let my unmanaged mind run free and I have moments where I put it on its leash and make it heel.
This was a moment where my mind on-leash and heeling.
It felt really good!