What is Crisis?

Crisis is an internal response to events completely out of my control. I choose to put forth my best effort at eliminating the emotional upheaval of crisis in my life.

I fall short of this ideal from time to time, for example, when my three year old son and I are in a battle of environmental control. I strive to never be late for anything. So I begin to feel crisis oriented when I am in a situation asserting parenting decisions with a head-strong three year old. My son may decide he does not want to go where he is planned to go for the day. I not only prepare for my day, I prepare for battle. The battle is getting ready in the morning after he decides he is not going anywhere. I can feel the crisis rising within me. The process of picking out a shirt for my three year old who wants to stay in his pajamas, convincing him to put his legs in the appropriate pant legs, and redirecting him to put his shoes on the correct feet could all lead to my tardiness. And venturing to the car can be an entire new phase of the process. Field Marshall once told me becoming a parent means losing your mind and finding your soul. If I can just remember my mind is lost, would my moments of parenting crisis also vanish?

For some reason, I am able to demonstrate my ideal crisis response on larger scales. I see and hear people around me frantic about the current economic crisis. We are all just terrified here in the US. Worried about loss of job, the car, the business, and no more evenings out on the town or days at the shopping mall; a lifestyle of privilege in my opinion. We purchase hummers, big homes, expensive kitchens, high tech gadgets with high monthly bills before we would help our neighbor, if we would even consider at all. Instead of worrying about our present economic conditions, when the next ball will drop, why not reach out by giving to others in more need?

My happiness is embedded in the principle of giving. At least for this person, in giving I receive tenfold. I do not have the power to change the current economic crisis, but I do have the power to change how I think, act, and respond to the circumstances. I choose to eliminate the emotional upheaval of crisis by reaching out to others in need and helping people who have never had privileged living. In changing my mindset, behavior, and response to the crisis I do not solve the the problem, but the problem indeed resolves itself. I often wonder what would happen if every person in the world helped another person whom has less. I am grateful today for the preparation battles with my son; he has shirts and pants to pick from and shoes to put on his feet. I find what I perceive as problems in my life dissipate when my focus is directed toward helping someone else or uplifting humanity.

Try it sometime, it works!