Mark Shepard’s Mind Mastery Daily
It Was, To Be Honest, A Long, Hard Night.
Visiting my dad, I got to sleep out on the screened in porch on an aero bed. It’s a lovely place with view of the “Little River” providing soothing river sounds… Ahhh. Tranquility in the country…
It was great the cool, breezy night before, and I slept so soundly…
However because we had my dad’s 88th birthday party last night there were just too many people to keep the doors shut and a LOT of mosquitoes had gotten IN.
And I mean a LOT. We must have inspired a flock of frenzied mosquitoes ready to FEED.
They kept dive bombing me all night. Literally all night. I did not sleep. Just as I would be about to drift off to sleep, one or more of them would buzz and whine in my ears. Or land on my nose. Or my eyelids… I tried diving under the covers but that just got stuffy.
If you ever doubt that something small can be powerful, spend the night with some mosquitoes.
And think about this, no matter what you do for a living, you don’t risk getting squished every time you want to grab a bite to eat do you?
(That’s just a little “reframe” It kind of makes you appreciate NOT being a mosquito :o).
So even though it was annoying and frustrating and seemed to go on ETERNALLY, I decided to use it as an opportunity to continue with my latest experiment in self mastery. With every Mosquito I swatted, I asked myself two key “Why” questions.
- Why do I love myself?
- Why does this work out better than I can possibly imagine?
YES the bugs were annoying. I’m not going to pretend they weren’t.
And then it got worse.
MICE started climbing up and down the outside of the screen as well! EWWWW!
So I kept chanting. “Why do I love myself?” “Why does this work out better than I can possibly imagine?”
And THEN? IT STARTED TO RAIN! Not just a little drizzle either.
It POURED. and the Wind began to blow the rain onto the porch.
Yet ANOTHER opportunity to practice what I preach.
“Why do I love myself? Why does this work out better than I can possibly imagine?”
About 5:00 am the sky started getting lighter and I could now see my assailants. There were DOZENS of them still attempting to pierce my tasty flesh…
I could also see the HUNDREDS of mosquitoes OUTSIDE the screen just wishing they could get in to suck my blood too!
So it definitely could have been worse LOL.
But this is NOT about putting a Pollyanna spin on things.
It’s about USING whatever presents itself to us as a learning or transforming opportunity. Even if it’s uncomfortable. Even if it means a 6 hour meditation in the dark with Mosquitoes as “teachers”.
And here I am. Alive. Awake. Believe it or not, I actually feel fine. Glad I made it through.
I can’t say I won’t want a nap later… because I will definitely want a nap! But in the past I would have been telling myself a whiny victim story and looking for sympathy from anyone within earshot… and focusing on how tired I am and how unfair it was to not be able to sleep, and convincing myself that my day was just “ruined” because I didn’t get enough sleep and on and on…. Boy could I tell myself a story in the “old days”.
But dammit! I’m going to TRANSFORM this experience into something that SERVES me.
Am I glad it’s over? Yes. Would I wish a night like that on anyone else? NO WAY! It truly SUCKED! LOL
But the mosquitoes gave me my topic for this morning (and motivation to bring a mosquito net next time…)
Ultimately we can’t always be comfortable. Sometimes stuff happens that pulls us out of our comfort zone or off of our “balance”. But that is the “matrix” we are in.
Your “take away” today?
Since you are human, you probably have some area of your life that is frustrating and uncomfortable. How can you use your discomfort? How can you learn from it? How can you find the strength to empower yourself from the seemingly negative situations in your life?
This might be a good time for a song. Enjoy!
Got questions? I have answers and I want you to have them, so…
photo credit – Copyright: medwether / 123RF Stock Photo