Hello, tender friends!
A little known fact that may surprise you: I am, shall we say, occasionally spicy of temperament.
This isn’t entirely unproductive. I occasionally channel my rage into completing tasks with astonishing rapidity. I can mow our lawn as fast as Anthony if I get angry enough and take it out on the unsuspecting grass.
Take that, perfectly mowed lawn in under 30 minutes!
But it’s not always productive. Over the past year or so, God has told me, “Just let him have the last word” whenever Anthony and I are fighting. Another time this came through, although I can’t tell you if this was from God or inside of me: You have to be the one to walk away.
It doesn’t seem fair. Why doesn’t he have to be the one to walk away? Why is it always me? Or better yet, why doesn’t God stop him from the buffoonery in the first place? (I know, I know, Anthony thinks the same about me, yada yada. Don’t worry, we have these talks).
But I feel so good when I decide to walk away. The trick is remaining mindful enough to remember that I have a decision to make: the decision to stay or to walk away.
In the heat of the moment, my reactions don’t feel like a decision. Everything speeds up so much that I lose awareness of the power of choice.
But given that every day is an opportunity to determine who you want to be and work towards becoming that person, I’m adopting this mantra:
I can remain peaceful and calm even when outside circumstances are frustrating.
It sounds so easy here on paper, but of course, I tend to forget all of this in the moment. But that’s what I’ll be repeating multiple times a day until I can become the kind of person I want to be: a person who remains admirably calm despite their circumstances.
A person wise enough to walk away.
Okay, tender friends, thank you for stopping by and thank you for sharing! I’ll be sharing some somatic exercises in this same spirit on Monday.
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tea and tenderness 
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