Surviving the Storm

This one today is kind of appropriate, given that I’m here in Jacksonville…watching the Lady Fay stomp up the coast towards me. :-)

So, my question for today is…How do YOU survive your storms?

Do you run and hide and hope they blow over?

Do you stand tall and fierce and try to shout down the storm?

Do you look for someone else to come and give you shelter?

Or, are you just being blown around, bouncing off anything that happens to get close, praying that you’re not too banged up after the storm stops?

So what do we do when the storms of life come raging at our doorstep? Battering the walls and attempting to scour away all that we’ve worked so hard for. Sometimes it seems that the storms never let up. That we go through life with a thunder cloud hovering right over our heads. But there is calm in every storm, a brief respite from even the most terrible of rains. And it is in those, sometimes very brief, moments that we can find our way through.

I will be the first to say that in the middle of the storm is not the time to figure out how to survive it. When you are fighting against the lashing rain, you MUST be able to fall back onto those things that are your solid foundation, your core, deep inside. I think that is why so many of us are simply swept away by the storms. We lack that solid, firm footing that will anchor us and keep us safe.

What is that core that will allow us to weather and survive the storms of life?

Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.
- George Sand (1804 - 1876)

George Sands has the start of it. I believe that the core that will get us through are the very traits that we hold in the highest esteem. Courage, Honor, Compassion, Love, Integrity, and Faith. If you have a grounded understanding of what each of those means to you and how they each fit into what makes you, you; then you will have a core that no storm will shake.

So, let me tell you want each of these means to me, that way it might help you figure out what they mean to you and adopt them into your deepest self.

Courage – is believing in yourself and standing firm for what you believe.
Honor – is not compromising what you believe in and living in accordance with your beliefs.
Compassion – is living from your heart without condemnation or judgment for yourself or anyone else.
Love – is wanting the best for everyone in your life and actively working to see it happen.
Integrity – is living a life that encompasses your core without compromise.
Faith – is believing in the goodness in yourself, others, and God.

Now, this is just for me. If you don’t like it than figure out your own definition. The important thing is to start living from your core and making it an indistinguishable part of who you are. Most people walk through this life never finding their core. They are simply content to exist on automatic pilot. Watch them. The storms will always rip through their lives, like the pig that built his house from straw. :-)

Be one of those that stand out from the masses. One of those that turns their face to the storm and laughs and watches the rains sweep by, knowing that they cannot be shaken.

Besides…I think the rain tickles my cheeks.