The "Bad" Event!

Everyone has a "bad" event occur at some point--during the day, the week, the month, etc. But some of you allow the “bad” event, whatever it may be: a flat tire, a broken nail, a shattered coffee pot, a dog bite, a road rager, a spill on your carpet—to be the defining moment of your WHOLE day, or week.

I was talking to someone a while back who told me, “I’ve had the worst day ever. Curious, I asked what happened, bracing myself for something really bad. The answer, “I couldn’t find my keys and was late to work.” Okay, while losing one’s keys and being late to work is an unfortunate situation, why let it ruin the whole day? Did nothing else but that happen? I bet it did.

We have to stop generalizing—letting one isolated event become so big, it eclipses everything else. One event does not a day make or break. (I’m excluding catastrophes such as the death of a loved one, a debilitating accident, or the rage of Mother Nature).

When an event happens, go with the flow. Don’t fight it. You’re only fighting with yourself. After all, if you spill red wine on the carpet, it’s done. Fighting with yourself about it doesn’t change a thing. Yeah, try and get the spill out, but the wine spill was just one thing. You need to let this one go because another event is already on its way. That’s just the way life goes.

When you keep your focus on the one negative thing that happened, you’re wasting energy; you’re not allowing the flow of life to course through you and out, the way it’s supposed to. If you cling to the one thing, you’re not prepared to deal with the next thing in line. This is dangerous because things will start to pile up; so much harder to deal with.

Remember that when an event comes up, it has to come down. It’s psychological gravity. Think about all the bad events that have occurred in your life. Do you even think about them now? Or have they just become a distant memory, or a story you tell friends over dinner? Events come and events fade. That’s just the nature of things.

So next time something unfortunate happens, just think, “This is just one thing. I’ll deal with it, and it will be all over.” Don’t cling to it. That just messes with you. Let it go, move on. Nothing bad will happen to you if you let it go. I can assure you, however, that clinging to it, discussing it with anyone who will listen, will not change a single thing. So, save your energy for more useful things. There are still many days still ahead. Enjoy them!