I don’t know if it’s maturity, training, or letting go, but I no longer get uptight waiting for my wife to get ready to leave the house. While calmly waiting for Cathy the other evening, I remembered this wasn’t always so.
In the past, when other people delayed my schedule, I would get agitated, irritated, and impatient. This inability to accept imperfections in my schedule would negatively impact the rest of my day. And, I would always blame the action or person who delayed me. “I’m sorry, I am so irritated about this meeting, but it’s because my wife took too long putting on her makeup this morning. So, I’m taking it out on you.” Well, it seemed logical at the time.
It’s Your Job to Set the Energetic Tone for Your Day
I heard a speaker recently tell a group of small business owners that it was their responsibility to set the tone for their companies’ daily activities. They could enter the door each morning feeling hurried, grumpy, or pressured, or they could join with a bounce in their step, fully engaged and excited to meet the day. It was their choice.
It’s a well-known fact that the energy you send out to the world is the energy you attract from the world. However, many times in the heat of complicated life and work schedules, this well-established truth could be forgotten or ignored.
Life is complicated, schedules are demanding, and things interfere with your schedules. If you are late because the kids won’t eat their breakfast, or the one-hour meeting becomes a two-hour meeting because the boss talks too long, it can ruin the whole day if you let it. Or, you can get intentional about the next meeting or interaction and not take your anxiety or irritation with you and mess up yet another hour or two with your negative energy. You get to choose.
Be intentional with your thoughts and energy.
The next time (tomorrow) your schedule is negatively impacted by anyone or anything, take a moment (you have time) and be intentional about the energy you want to take into your next appointment. I’d like to set your intention carefully: I am frustrated about the impact on my day. However, I plan to let go of all my frustration and be fully present and engaged in my next interaction.
I choose conscious calmness,
Gary
