Sitting in the Barefoot Buddah enjoying a kale smoothie, reading some spiritual sayings and recipes for life I came across these two lines.
1. Life is about how you handle plan B
2. Happiness is an inside job.
You’ll understand better why these lines spoke to me when I share how my plans (Plan A) changed overnight and why I am still plugged into the happy channel.
The past few months have been geared toward getting ready to sail to Grenada with my romantic leading man, David, on the yacht Bel Ami. We had a 10 day charter booked at the beginning of August and planned on keeping the boat out of the hurricane belt and returning in November. I’ve been cleaning out (as you could have guessed if you’ve heard my previous shows about getting my books to fit my shelves and lightening my load). I found a wonderful couple to live in my cottages and take care of my beloved poodles. I was prepared for take off. I even had a going away party last Sunday. My captain went to Wisconsin for a brief trip for work and family and Plan A was to shove off yesterday when he was to have returned – weather permitting.
I’ll cut to the chase and tell you what happened: I moved onto the boat and Dave left for Wisconsin. Three days into his trip he had some chest discomfort and went for a stress test. One week later, he had coronary bypass surgery, lived to tell the tale and is now recovering in an ICU in Wisconsin (surrounded by family and friends). We are not going to Grenada. I am not leaving – except perhaps to visit him. I now live on a boat. My land home is happily occupied and my poodles are fine. My daughter is fending for herself.
When friends ask how I am doing, I reply that I miss Dave and wish I were with him but that I feel pretty OK. I have been noticing for a while now that my default settings have changed. I seem to have reprogrammed my thoughts to reflect a more upbeat, positive, energy soothing perspective on things right off the bat. The negative, fearful tapes play, but later and on a much muted channel. Despite the sudden scary diagnosis and treatment, I know that all is well. I believe that Dave will recover and that we will go on to enjoy wonderful times together. I know that as I allow the wind to blow my boat around (me around) my plan B will come into focus. No rushing required.
I share all of this as my testimony to the fact that practicing new habits of thought and working on your body, mind and spirit produces life changing results that make life easier, more fun, deeper and more full of love.
Imagine if you knew that you could maintain/regain your balance and inner joy no matter what was going on in your life – thereby changing your life?
I am here to tell you that if I can, you can. What you focus on expands. As I focus on Dave’s well-being, the amazing timing of everything, the loving energy that has poured his way and mine – it grows, fills me up and helps Dave to heal. He is doing well. I am doing well. The fear tapes that are running in the background that are faint – trumped in a heartbeat by joy and the knowledge that happiness is always an inside job.
So whether today is a plan A Day or one where the fall backs. the improvisations and serendipity of life keep things interesting and where things don’t always work out as planned, what are you going to do? How do you handle Plan B?
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