which shoe fits?

I've let go of something this weekend.

Maybe I should say it let go of me.

Matters that matter never resolve themselves as quickly as I would like. I've just faced another challenge filled with anger, guilt, shame, and grief.

This time, I can't share the details. Though they matter very much to me, how to deal with the situation matters far more. And through the Great Transformation, I can be better equipped to handle a mess with careful thought and advice from Jack Canfield:

Events are neutral things. Things happen and you do not have control over them. They carry no real weight; they just are. Your response to the event, however, is a variable you can control. You choose whether to be calm, or panic, wallow, laugh or cry. You can be pragmatic, graceful, and accepting. Or you can spiral out of control.

The event + your response = the outcome. E+R=O.

It's always been easy for me to slip into a panic at any sign of disruption in my life. I have always reacted poorly. When something becomes too big, too painful, too hard for me to handle, I bury it. I don't think about it, I don't deal with it, and it lies, unaddressed, manifesting its way in other areas of my psyche and life. Which, as you can probably guess, has always turned into bigger problems.

This time, I can respond differently. I can be honest with my thoughts and my feelings. I can respond calmly and allow everything, no matter how painful, or how hard, set and unfold in its own time. I can accept the consequences, acknowledge the pain and the hurt and deal with them.

It is what it is. In a better frame of mind, I finally understand that while I can't and absolutely do not control every aspect of my life to my satisfaction; I can choose to be present and actively respond in the most positive way possible.

It's time to take a deep breath, accept responsibility and then, let the future unfold. By God's grace, I woke today to a new day filled with a chance to do better with the life I was given.

It's a gift, indeed.