Greetings!
Happy Friday :) Usually by Fridays (today is no exception) I find that my Resiliency Zone has gotten pretty narrow. I'm tired, and want to make it to the weekend. This morning, as I drove my kids to daycare, I was working on just staying within this narrow Resilient Zone.
Then I got to daycare, got out of the car to get the kids out, and saw that my back tire was completely flat. Lightning bolt moment. I took the kids inside and told our childcare provider what was happening, and she had some good ideas which I was grateful for. As I called the car shop to see if they could help me, I noticed my heart was racing, I wanted to cry, and my body felt tingly. But then I looked outside my car window and saw a cardinal that had landed on the tree next to me, and this made me smile. Both for the beauty of the bird, and that it reminded me of my mom who loves birds. Using this Help Now skill, I started to ask myself "What else is true?" The car shop was sending someone to help me-I was thankful for this. My kids were safely at daycare-I was very grateful for this. My morning was not going as expected, but kindness was showing up.
This morning sitting with a flat tire felt like a low place, especially with an already narrow Resilient Zone. What can we learn when we are in low places? How can we practice our skills, our "what else is true" responses? This brought me back to a quote from The Book of Joy that I just read, inviting us into wisdom and humility when we find ourselves in the low places. “‘There is a Tibetan saying that wisdom is like rainwater—both gather in the low places. There is another saying that when the spring bloom comes , where does it start? Does it start on the hilltops or down in the valleys first? Growth begins in the low places. So similarly if you remain humble, then there is the possibility to keep learning." -Dalai Lama, excerpt from The Book Of Joy
If you find yourself in a low place today, my hope is you find this quote and this email to be a small gesture of kindness, a light, and a reminder that these low places are where growth begins.
May we be safe, healthy, have joy, and live in peace.
-Sarah
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