Hmmm, there have been a lot of things steering me off course this week - of course, I could take 100% responsibility for this and say I have allowed myself to be steered off course.
But that implies I have full control and I haven't!
I spent a couple of hours over the weekend trying to locate all my choir rehearsal songs, which had fallen off Google Play. I hadn't touched them and I certainly hadn't pushed them off the song list...but they had gone.
I applied all my best NLP skills - eliciting strategies for relocating lost items and sub modality changes to make the disappeared reappear...but Google wasn't having any of it and my songs remain banished to the IT black hole.
Then I spent a good hour on Monday trying to get my laptop to talk to the printer - I hadn't changed anything but they had obviously had some sort of disagreement over the weekend and weren't talking to each other.
I applied all my best NLP skills - perceptual positions for conflict resolution and some carefully worded embedded commands...but they weren't having any of it, so I resorted to my usual IT strategies of turning everything off and on and then deleting it all and reinstalling it!
So, there have been 'events' steering me off course this week, that I didn't plan for or schedule in to my week!
The thing is, whilst I didn't have control over Google Play or printer disagreements, what I did have some control over was my reaction to these events.
Once upon a time, I would have burst into tears, beat my chest and asked 'Why me?'...well probably not quite that dramatic, but there would have been tears of frustration as I battled with technology, which has never been my favourite subject.
Nowadays, maybe because I am older and wiser, or maybe because I can apply all my best NLP skills to myself, I am far better at being in the moment, pausing for breath, assessing what I can do and doing my best to let go of the rest!
Being able to 'respond' more graciously and with serenity continues to be a work in progress and I don't always get it right, especially with IT related frustrations! At least I can be more aware of the options that I do have at my fingertips, even when I don't appear to have any control.
So remember, we always have something we can control, even if its only our own reaction to the situation!