Come check out the Indelible Adventures website as I'll be posting podcasts in the next few days - yes, something new in the "Listen" section.
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Since returning from Ireland last Friday,
the weather in Toronto this week has been fantastic. There I said it, I can literally feel Spring
in the air, even the 3.5 feet of snow on my front lawn before we left for
Ireland is now down to a mere 2 feet and shrinking daily, and just to be clear
when I look out from my front porch there is no snow at all on the north side
of the street!
Now this coupled with the advent of
daylight saving has brightened my mood considerably, nothing like coming home from work and it still being sunny outside. I’m
not sure about you but seriously my whole attitude to life changes when I can
finally put winter behind me and can move on.
That got me thinking about context and how
our lives for the most part continue on a relatively linear path, whether it be
the regularity of the seasons, your family or work – all remain generally
constant. Lets face it we bring the
drama and emotions to bear, others may call it color and excitement, but again
it depends on the day and the situation.
I like to think of it as my personal “spin”. All I know is that at the end of the day we
can either put positive or negative spin on every situation or moment to either
create drama and angst or let it go gracefully and step back emotionally and
see it for what it is - noise in the greater scheme of things.
Lets look at one of my favorite examples of
spin, as many of you know I grew up in the much more temperate climes of
Australia and although having now lived in Canada for many years still show
significant amounts of despair when it comes to winter. I think for the most part because it’s so cold
and grey for sooooooo long. Now what
gets my goat are those of you out there (yes, you know who you are) that
delight in telling me that you “love the seasons”… Bugger the seasons is my consistent response!
Give me summer, and maybe a week or two of spring
and then throw in a week of the Fall and we’re done. I would be deliriously happy if that were the
case, and if for some reason I was desperate to see the snow (I do love to ski
and snowboard) then I could get on a plane and go do it once or twice a year to
satisfy that craving.
See total spin because we had winters in
Australia, and they could be cold, albeit no snow, but Australian houses don’t
insulate nor do they have central heating and so therefore for the most part
houses don’t retain their heat that well which can make for a rather chilly
winter experience – a chill deep into your bones if you know what I mean. On a positive note the winters are relatively
dry and short so for the month or two that the temperature gauge hovers around
8 – 10C as a daytime high I could generally bear it no worries.
I even remember during my first year of
University it snowed one winter’s day, and probably left about 4 – 6 cm on the
ground. One of my lecturers at the time
was on exchange from Cranbrook, British Columbia (yes, he had a funny American
sounding accent
J) and so he suspended our lecture that
day so we could go build a snowman and have snowball fights out near the
residence buildings. It felt so foreign,
but cool at the same time.
Anyway,
back to the context of spin…where was I?
I’m a big believer in the theory that when
you wake up in the morning you choose what context you’re going to see your day
through. I don’t think its a conscious
decision for the most part, but you definitely get a sense for how your day is
going to pan out within the first 30 minutes of your day.
What happens if you stub your toe when you
get out of bed, or perhaps get shampoo in your eyes in your morning shower,
then burn your toast before realizing that you’re late for work. Not a great start to the day, but it depends
what sort of attitude and spin you put on the start of your day. You could laugh it off, or be as mad as hell and frustrated....all day long!
I’ve personally found that you can alter
your perception of the day depending on your outlook, almost no matter what happens
short of something life threatening just by having a positive attitude and
letting go of the emotions to the situations that you run up against.
This is an invaluable realization and life
lesson that I’ve tried to impart on Zach and Sami, in that it’s all about the
context and spin you apply to things.
The second part of this lesson is the self-realization that the only
person that controls your emotional state is you. You get to choose!
I guess growing up where and when I did, I
had to figure life out for myself but I feel like I’ve learned all of these
great life lessons over my lifetime that I want to share with Zach and Sami and
for the most part I make no bones about sharing them, but I do worry sometimes
that they aren’t being given the opportunity to learn them first hand, the hard
way but perhaps that's just my spin! J
best part of winter is coming in from the out
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