Give me the courage to face my fears

Give me the strength to follow through

Give me the patience to understand others

Give me Love to show my empathy for others

Give me the wisdom to make a difference

And give me the grace to do it with humility

Although we may not have control of how we feel about something, we certainly have a choice of how we can react.

This is the difference between a person who chooses to be a victim or someone who gets out in front and is proactive. The more space we put between the stimulus and response, the more productive our reactions tend to be. Hence, the solution of counting to 10.

We must remember WE are the governors of our emotions, our reactions and our perspective. No one can tell us how to feel nor respond.

Growing up I saw my father repeatedly go to work reluctantly. Unhappily. I could sense the feeling of dread he had on Monday mornings. Not to mention that he would make sure we (my brothers and sisters) knew it as well. When I became an adult, I chose not to view Monday mornings that way. I do my best not to view my job that way.

Why? I get to choose. I’m the Governor.

As are you.

As we all know, change can be a terrifying thing. They say, we all want to change just as long as we don’t have to change anything.

But all creative ideas, endeavors and manifestations come from the unknown – not the known. We have to get used to living and creating from that place – as uncomfortable as it may be. I’ve heard it said, “How can we expect things to change by repeating the same behavior over and over?”

This is not referring to a daily practice of getting better at something. I’m talking about hoping things in your life were different, but not doing anything about it. We must break the cycle of complacency and procrastination and do the work. It doesn’t have to be pretty. By no means perfect. It just needs to get done. Now. Today. Build it one brick at a time. Let’s not judge it, let’s just put in the work.

And then wake up tomorrow and do it again.

I once read in a book about unselfish Love that we shouldn’t take anything in life personally. Even if a stranger walks up to us on the street and stabs us with a knife. That’s about them and not you. Hmmm. I think I have some work to do.

The idea is that when we look to be offended by something throughout the day, we will never go disappointed. This is true. So many of us today are looking for an excuse to take out our frustrations, our disfunction and our own lack of evolvement out on others whenever we have the opportunity to do so.

The flip side of that coin is realizing that it really has nothing to do with “you.” This certainly can be a challenge for me. Remembering it’s about the other person’s issues and not you.

Believe me, I have plenty of work to do, and I have no problem acknowledging my shortcomings, however, the last thing I want to do is go through my day looking for ways to be offended. I would like to think I have better things to do.

It would seem in my younger years that my days could be a bit chaotic. I’m sure it had to do with a variety of things at the time: immaturity – physically, mentally, socially and emotionally, but also hormones, lack of direction, confidence, limited life experiences and an absence of self-actualization (maybe not completely).

That’s okay. I chalk it up as childhood and adolescence. A time for exploration, experimentation and a whole lot of mistakes.

Nowadays, my preferred grove in life includes a rhythm of the heart and mind. It’s a pace in which my days are far from chaotic – but can be a bit crazy at times – in which no matter what happens, I’ve trained myself not to over react and to remain centered and grounded. Flying off the handle has little interest to me these days.

I’ve discovered the rhythm of my mind and heart and take that glorious beat with me wherever I go. No doubt this takes maintenance through meditation and awareness, but never the less it’s the engine that drives my day and I’m so grateful for it’s presence.