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Loving Monday: Greeting The Unexpected Intruder

loving_mondayThe unexpected can sneak up on us like an intruder.

Even something wonderful can be greeted with a frown simply because it was unexpected. It caught us off guard. We had one thing planned and now the situation has changed.

How do you react when caught off guard? How do you greet the unexpected?

When we come to work expecting to work along one set of plans and cannot, we have an adjustment to make. Some of us are better at adjusting than others.

Today I want to draw our attention to one of our starting assumptions. Is the unexpected an intruder or a friend? Have we been met with a setback or an opportunity?

Your gut answer to those two questions will help you get deeper insight about why you react to the unexpected the way you do.

If something bad has happened, then the adjustment process is one of damage control, recovery, and getting back to what you had been doing previously.

If something good has happened, then the adjustment process is one of triage, learning, and participating in the new creation that is emerging.

In the one case, the ways of the past and being able to maintain control are the central dynamics.

In the other case, the possibilities of the future and being able to discern what has value are the central dynamics.

Reaction, control, preventing damage, and self-protection on the one hand; versus learning, discernment, participation, and new options on the other.

When the unexpected happens today—and it will—what sort of greeting will you extend? Celebrating a welcome if unpredictable friend or complaining about an unwelcome and troublesome intruder?

Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.


Here's My Thought...


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