Road side Assistance
Sigh…..This week has not been fun. It started off with an unexpected snow storm at the beginning of the week. Unpreparedness ruled and rocked the roads as drivers seemed to have forgotten how to drive in wintery NewEngland weather. I grant you that this is April and we had commemorated the birth of spring with tulips and flowers in most of our back yards, with the visibility of green grass. Nevertheless my story began while driving slowly on a back road to work when I lost control of the car. I swerved into on coming traffic, sailed back into my lane and missed the first telephone pole. Only to then glide back into the on coming traffic lane and then float back to my lane missing the second telephone pole. Then I exceeded my own disbelief at my predicament and performed a 360 degree spin which then narrowly missed the car behind me, while I now effortlessly headed to the third telephone pole, which I did not unfortunately miss, and the right rear of the car banged into it gracefully. This managed to re-correct my course and heading back into my lane and I proceeded to my originally intended destination as if nothing had ever happened. Perhaps I was watching all this on TV. It was surreal. I was alive, shaken but not stirred. This is all in the context of hearing of the passing of my grandmother an hour prior to my accident. I am convinced that she was in the car with me during this unnecessary adventure in the car. Crazy ?yes. Doubtful ? No. She was my road side assistance. This got me thinking.
I face various troublesome or tiresome burdens on a regular basis. Clearly none of them as dramatic as the above described incident. They weigh heavily on me. Whether it is interactions with patients or with others as I try to solve all the problems that come my way. I am not always successful, yet really who is 100% of the time? Family disagreements, endless negotiating with a 4 year old, understanding friends, unsuccessful yet compassionate pacification of a 5 month old, making sense of irritating telephone marketeers, mountains of chores, and of course the continuous digging myself out of my day are just a few of the items that are on my unwritten agenda, excluding of course the written items ! I need help. Badly. So does everyone I know. Yet we all simply just take on our stressors on the roads of life and the roads with all their potholes wears us down. Engines fail, tires are damaged, and we end our lives with regret. Much of the time I enjoy the scenery on my road of life, yet sometimes the road comes up to meet me as it recently did. A not so gentle reminder that I have to stop with the non sense and the petty smallness of my life and lead a more on purpose life. I need road side assistance.
Roadside assistance is always at hand when I need it. This time it may have come from an unlikely source, yet it came nevertheless. Having not had my assist, I would have more than certainly had a worse outcome and per chance taken out a few people with me along with myself. Presence of mind and being mindful is one such assistance that I employ on my road of life. Another is the simple understanding and believing in the universe that is there for my support and good, it is called faith. Whether I believe in myself, or a grand old cosmic deity or the universe is not the point. The fact that I believe is enough. Believing and accepting is the key in activating my personal road side assistance which manifests as mindfulness of the present moment.
I will face more challenges and obstacles in this life, I know this to be a fact. I am not trying to avoid them, I need to overcome them. I am glad that my roadside assistance was present with me during the beginning of the week, even if she manifested in this form. May she rest in peace. ” Being present” is more than just a state of mind that is speculated as being unattainable. It is a valuable resource and necessity in staying alive. I think I can attest to this wholeheartedly today.
Driving today? Have you checked that you have your roadside assistance with you?
