My email account was shut down for 24 hours.
Coulda panicked. Coulda frieked out much–especially ’cause I haven’t as yet compiled all my contacts in my address book or further, backed them up to my external hard drive (ipod or iphone or thumb drive..yeah, I have 3 options, don’t ask why none of them yet store my contacts).
Didn’t panic though when I lost all ability to use my gmail.
I did what any rational thinking individual would do.
I got on Twitter and asked for help. 😉
And then posted a message on Facebook.
Actually, those are steps I took AFTER I did the most important thing:
I got still ..and meditated.
Yep. Tis true.
Call it meditation. Call it prayer. Call it what I do: getting still.
I do it. Often.
Because it clears the mental counter so you know really what you have to work with. And yesterday’s email crash was no different.
I intentionally took several moments to get still–until I squelched each and every last inkling of anxiety.
I’m not good at problem solving–perhaps none of us really are– if I’m motivated by anxiety, fear, or anything else that’s negative.
And I learned a while ago–that each one of us has the ability to govern our thoughts, root out the negative ones, and listen for next steps, no matter how small, no matter how seemingly insignificant.
It’s this investment in being still, getting calm and L I S T E N I N G that proves time and time again the single most important investment in problem solving–that I’ve made.
Later I’ll post some practicals on what I did that could have prevented the whole email closing down saga. And I’ll offer some things that I’ve learned as good take homes/notes to self that I want to share with anyone using web based email.
But back to getting still: I do this a few ways.
Often I close my eyes and find a quiet nook–if at all possible–where I can crouch down and sit comfortably. If I can’t find such a nook, I simply close my eyes. It’s my step to shut out all distractors from thought.
But with my eyes close, I take several deep long breaths. Again, this action calms thought down further.
Mind you this entire time, the anxious murmurings or the blaring fears are having a hey day. But I ignore them enough to self care…get myself into that place mentally where I can calmly address each of them.
If there’s zero time to do any of the above, I simply fight back all fear and defend my inner calm.
In proactively rooting out the anxious ‘what if’s’ or ‘how could you’s’ or whatever else is attacking in thought, you make room for calm clarity to reign.
So as in any other potentially panicky situation, I closed my eyes, got calm and started affirming truths that are true for me and anyone:
–that right now, this moment, what is really going on is the activity of the one harmonious Being and that all real activity is controlled by this Mind.
–that right at this moment, there is an answer at hand, that nothing of substance was irrevocably broken or irreparably ruined.
–the my life, my work, my being was safe.
–that I would know the next steps to take, one step at a time.
–that I might be inconvenienced for a very long while but that I would find a solution.
–that all of this was true because my life is not a hapharzard circumstance governed by chance but is the very expression of the one Being.
–and that thought by thought I can live and prove the dominion and harmony rightfully mine–and all of ours–to the degree I squelch the anxious fears in thought and root out all that suggests my life is a mortal haphazard mistake.
I got calm and still in a matter of about thirty minutes.
And now with this renewed view of the true substance of my life and worth, I was able to approach my work station area and begin to take practical next steps to resolving this issue.
So I’m offering the above because no problem ever has to make you panic or imprison you into helplessness. And that while you may not have all the practical how to’s already known, you do have — we each have — the right and privilege to exercise dominion at any moment.
And getting still is the way to refuel your thinking with this dominion so that next steps can be calmly sought out and found.
In my situation, I knew I should alert gmail which I did.
In the six hours it took to hear back from them, I contacted all the folks who wrote in concern, using a second email I’d already established (separate to this instance).
And I then drafted a note to all my contacts apologizing for any concern brought to them.
By the time gmail walked me through how to reactivate my account, I had received lots of good tips from responses on Twitter and Facebook and was well underway planning how to get better organized online.
Had I frieked out and panicked, yesterday would have turned into an emotional dramatic roller coaster. I might have felt impelled to phone different folks and complain and dive into that poor me syndrome. And had I done that, where would I be today? In the same rutt.
Invest in getting still. Often. Its the very thing that reminds you on a regular basis of your serenity, your security, your intelligence, your peace.
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So tell us what’s key to you in problem solving?
What have you done to avoid a panic, emotional reaction?