Welcome to Mind Over Legal Matter where we approach Florida Bar Essays one mindful step at a time!
During the summer, my family and I go to the beach often. In fact, we have made it a habit to go every Sunday and call it our “family beach day”.
Luckily, we all enjoy the beach, no matter the weather. For the majority of the time, we go in the water, play in the sand with my son, and relax and read a book or magazine.
Yesterday was just like all of our other “family beach days”, except for one frustrating moment.
My husband was packing up the car while my son and I were using the showers to rinse off. I finished with my son and it was my turn to rinse.
I turned the knob and it completely popped off, causing a burst of running water to continuously come out of the pipes, water going everywhere, and so much water just gushing out at a rapid pace. You would think I busted a fire hydrant or something!
I was so frustrated, upset, and annoyed. I wanted someone to blame. I immediately thought “Why me? Out of all the working showers, I picked the one that was going to burst on me.”
And as SOON as I had that thought, the answer came to me right away — as if God or the Universe heard my question and answered me, matter of factly.
The answer I heard in my heart was “Because you’ll make sure it gets shut off”
Friends, the environment is important to me – my family does the best we can to live eco-friendly by using non-toxic products, preserving water, recycle, minimize our trash, and even pick up trash at the beach and in our community, to name a few. So as you can see, I could never walk away from a busted pipe with gushing water, without trying everything possible to get it shut off, so as to not waste water for hours and hours.
As soon as I heard the answer, I felt a calmness. Suddenly I was not frustrated, upset, or angry anymore. Instead, I felt privileged that I was chosen. This was my opportunity to be an advocate for the environment and an example for my son.
Quickly, my moment of burden turned into a teachable moment for myself and for my son. Instead of seeing his mommy frustrated and upset, he now saw me as calm and as a problem-solver. I looked over at my son and said to him – I have to figure out a way to turn this off, can you please help me?
He then said “Yes but mommy, why don’t you just use the other shower since this one is not working?”
And I said, “because I care about the environment and I want to make sure we do not waste any water, so I want to make sure we shut it off.”
He eagerly moved towards me to give me a hand.
It was such a proud moment for me on so many levels. I hope you understand why.
How many times have we reacted to something in a negative way, or said “why me?”. What if we reached deep within ourselves to search for the answer to the “why me?” And what possibilities would open up for us, if we started reacting to moments such as these, in a positive way?
Oh, and in case you were wondering, we found the emergency shut off valve. 🙂
Finding peace starts with one simple step. Allow yourself to take that first step today and continue to build upon it. The life you’ve always dreamed of begins NOW.
