Do you remember as a kid, when you'd jump on the trampoline? The highs felt daring, exciting and at the same time scary.
The lows were just you pushing off harder to go higher.
Then you began having so much fun, you stopped paying attention and you landed on one of the coils.
It hurt.
You had to stop for a while to dry your eyes and get both your feet and your rhythm going again.
That's life.
Life is going along good and then we hit a coil.
We have to then stop, look, listen, and reassess where we are and what we're doing.
Perhaps you lost a customer or you lost a job or maybe your retirement funds.
Perhaps you've lost a loved one or some portion of your health.
Whatever; it hurts.
Part of the reflection process is to ask yourself, what didn't I see, what was I not paying attention to? What is both the lesson and the gift in this situation? How can I make this work for me and not against me? Just as on the trampoline, we need to be conscious of what is happening around us.
If others are jumping with us, how do my actions affect them, how are their actions affecting me? Life is not lived in a vacuum, what we say and do almost always has impact on others.
Sometimes it's even what we don't do that causes the impact.
I've lost clients for being too challenging and lost clients for not being challenging enough.
When I look back I wasn't paying attention.
The signs were all there, but I didn't see (hear) them; the coil had to get my attention.
It had to hurt.
As we all know, the canvas of the trampoline is stretched very tightly.
Perhaps this is even the way you feel about your schedule, your life or your work.
The key is what you are using that tightness for.
Is it so tight, it's driving you crazy, so that you're unaware of the bigger picture and the affect you're having on others at home or at work? Or are you using that stretched canvas as a foundation to springboard you to higher level, to give you the impetus to fly higher and higher? To be more effective, more productive, more compassionate? My request of you is to become aware of how the upsets in your life can be used for your higher purpose - used as a springboard.
The trampoline is like your foundation, it is already strong, tight, and powerful.
The question becomes: how can I use strong, tight and powerful to the best of my potential in this next year? Who do I need to be aware of that is nearby? How will my new goal (bounce) affect them? How has my landing on the coils in the past given me new impetus, new insights, and new ideas for my future? Happy landings!