3 Points to Ponder
- “Long battles with painful situations are exhausting. Even in the worst times, small doses of goodness and peace can be found with the right eyes to see. At this moment, what are you focusing on in your life – the chaos or the goodness, even if it is small?”
- “In the middle of the most devastating hurricanes, a breath of fresh air comes when the eye passes over. Do you use this breath to refresh or to curse?”
- “Sometimes, you don’t recognize that you are the hurricane in someone else’s life. You are too busy blowing to know the damage you are causing. Where do you need to stop blowing so hard in someone else’s life?”
2 Quotes to Share
“At the still point where calm is, in the eye of the storm amidst the chaos of reality…there, I found myself.” -Tulasi Menon
“She stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails.” -Elizabeth Edwards
1 Story of Impact
Last week, I experienced my first major tropical storm when I was on Abaco Island, directly hit by Hurricane Nicole. I’ve been through plenty of Iowa thunderstorms, witnessed tornados, and was even hit by the Midwest derecho in 2021. But hurricanes are different. They constantly apply damage, both through wind and water. They are slower in nature, building over a period of time. They come from all sides, switching wind and rain directions midstorm. And then there is the eye of the storm – an eerie, sunny calm in the midst of chaos. During this reprieve in the storm, you have two choices: assess the damage and make needed fixes for the second half or convince yourself the worst is over and don’t make the needed changes. Storms in life are inevitable. You can’t always predict them, and you certainly can’t control the chaos once they hit. But, during those times of peace and sunny calm, are you doing the needed assessment of what you’ve learned? Are you making the needed adjustments to weather the storm better once it hits again from a different direction? Or have you convinced yourself it is over and nothing needs to change? How you ultimately come out of that storm will depend upon the foundation you built before it ever hit and the adjustments you made when the winds died down and the sun came out for a brief pause. For it is in the crisis you can develop your wisdom, empathy, and humility to refine your character for the future. And with time, a better future.
