What If….
So many times, we want to change our reality from what is actually happening to something else. Our ‘what is’ to ‘what if’ becomes a place we’re often found but it creates disharmony and ends up robbing us.
The problem is we miss out on appreciating what is happening here and how, because we don’t like it, didn’t ask for it and want a refund.
sBut what if there was a lesson in there somewhere, one that elevated our experiences?
What if there was something we could appreciate during those moments?
I recently had the pleasure of hiking the gorgeous Able Tasman Park with some friends.
Although we laughed our way around it, there were times when ‘what if’ emerged. What if it wasn’t raining continually, what if the falling over and tripping up hadn’t occurred, what if that person in the doc hut could just shut up long enough so we could all get some sleep?
The reality being that we can’t control the ‘what if’, we can only control the ‘what is’… So, why not adjust our thinking to reflect that and just enjoy the moment.
What is around us is NZ in all its beauty like the light after a downpour, as it filters through the sky surrounded by mist. Or the freezing cold water that forms part of Bark Bay and is from this point forward known as the Arctic Circle.
We can spend so much wasted time living in ‘what if’ land, when ‘what is’ is right in front of us imploring us to be noticed and enjoyed!
Instead we take it for granted and even dismiss it.
If it didn’t rain, we wouldn’t appreciate the coolness of the ground or the sun when it did appear.
If that person hadn’t kept us awake, we wouldn’t appreciate the next night when we could get some sleep.
Are we becoming aware of the pattern here?
Even on the hardest days tramping, we could still come up with silly tunes and ridiculousness to distract ourselves from the never-ending peaks and troughs through the Able Tasman.
Yes, it’s magnificent and ‘the gift that keeps on giving’.
When we were tired, those hills never ended, but the view from the top was amazing, and the downhill was a relief. By choosing to laugh and sing through it: the ‘what if’ became the ‘what is’ and the ‘what is’ was wonderful.
It’s pretty good symbolism for our lives, as we cannot always determine what lies ahead, but we can always determine how we choose to view it, or even better enjoy and experience ‘what is’ happening in that moment.
Why not start seeing it as magnificent and full of joy.
‘What if’ used to rule me, it would march right in, unannounced, tell me that this was NOT good enough and control how I would experience the rest of my day.
It didn’t even have the good manners to call ahead and book an appointment
Now I have become unavailable to ‘what if’ and instead chosen ‘what is’, I find that we are more aligned, that we have much more in common and that ‘what is’ also thinks I’m funny.
What’s not to love?
On those days when nothing is in your control, when things feel like they couldn’t get any worse, tell ‘what if’ to take a hike, wrap up warmly with ‘what is’, share that coffee with it, feeling however you need to. You may be surprised to find that ‘what is’ becomes more acceptable with time, or moves on, and either way you start to feel better.
We always have the answers, they all come from within us, we just have to ask, and they will appear.