It’s The One Thing You Can Count On

It was high time I made friends with it.

One day while teaching middle school Science to a rowdy, but fun-loving group I had this massive realization.

I was out of pink construction paper.

That meant the paper bunny rabbits we were going to birth the next day in the Genetics lab would have to have red ears and bunnies simply don’t have red ears — do they?

At that point in my life having things in order and somewhat predictable was vital to my sanity. Pink construction paper nearly got me to consider driving 45 minutes to Walmart at 9:00 pm on a school night.

Managing to sleep knowing my lab the next day was a bit off kilter I went to school and had THE real AH AH moment.

You know the kind where time stands still and all of life is in slow motion.

I remember managing a deep breath and feeling as if my hand was guided to my stack of yellow post-it notes and I jotted down these two words…

I wrote about 10 of them that day.

I put them on the dry-erase board, under my water bottle, and by the phone.

I even posted them on various pages of my Teacher’s Textbook. This way I had a gentle reminder at the turn of a page.

It was my secret weapon to train myself to slow down, witness reality — not judge it — just witness it and allow myself to BE present in that moment that was unfolding.

To relax.

To realize that actually everything was under control because I was — Controlling Thyself.

Being immersed in learning to teach Middle School Science while having such an awakening was no small task.

Middle School was my Ashram. My students were my gurus.

I couldn’t help but fantasize about how much easier it would be to run barefoot through the streets of Spain with bulls chasing me, or to launch a solo expedition of the space shuttle than it was to train myself to deliver my boundaries with compassionate strength.

The mind isn’t really fond of staying in the present moment.

Nor is it a fan of accepting that life is simply unfolding and all it is responsible for is to step into each moment.

When we don’t get what we want the mind sets out to control, fix, buck, and kick until the situation is in a form that it is happy to receive.

The key piece of letting go and simply Controlling Thyself is that we are then able to open up to a space of allowing.

To trust that, even though what is currently happening isn’t exactly what we may wish to have happening, that something magical and perhaps even better is about to unfold.

There is one aspect of life we can control and that is the amount of effort we put into life to up-level ourselves and our experiences.

As I scanned the classroom that day filled with raucous laughter, movement and chatter I began to realize as I Controlled Thyself with compassionate strength the more wonderful conversations, joy-filled times and awesome activities did I create!

Of course, iron-fist boundaries were set, but they were wrapped in a velvet glove of love.

My Dad asked me once what Enlightenment was and I said, “I think it is the ability to expand the pause between reacting and responding to life.”

We had a lot of good talks that summer in the haystacks.

We were both in a period of our lives where we were learning to accept what was unfolding rather than getting trapped in the mind kicking and screaming trying to control a new reality into existence.

What is that saying?

Resistance is futile…

As life on Earth continues to morph into something, we may not recognize this realization stands true to this day — Controlling Thyself is the only way.

Get out those post-it-notes out and let’s begin!

Your effort awaits.

Thank you for clapping 50x and for reading my stories. You are a gift in my life.

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