Pebble in Your Shoe, V22, #22

John Lennon said, “Life is what happens when you are making other plans.” And I say, sometimes we don’t like it. Often we find ourselves complaining about what is. How useful have you found your complaints? Do they get you what you’d prefer? I have noticed that complaining just makes me grumpy. Yet complaints can be useful if you learn how to use them.

Imagine walking down a road, enjoying the scenery, the gentle breeze, the fragrance of rich dirt, and feeling happy and grateful. You become aware that there is a pebble in your shoe. You ignore the pebble because you don’t want to stop your walk, untie your shoe, take off your sock, remove the pebble, clean your foot, put your sock back on, then your shoe, and tie it up.

Moving on down the road, you again become aware of the pebble in your shoe. This time it is not just uncomfortable, but your foot has begun to hurt. You ignore the pebble because you don’t want to stop your walk, untie your shoe, take off your sock, remove the pebble, clean your foot, put your sock back on, then your shoe, and tie it up.

A little later, your attention is pulled to a throbbing in your foot. You realize you now have a blister, and not only that, when you were focused elsewhere, it popped, and the raw skin rubbed against your shoe. It hurts. Yet, you ignore it all because you don’t want to stop your walk, untie your shoe, take off your sock, remove the pebble, clean your foot, put your sock back on, then your shoe, and tie it up.

Since you are a master of distraction, you can focus your attention elsewhere and ignore your foot. Yet your distraction action is not strong enough to block the pain shooting up your leg. You stop walking to untie your shoe, take off your sock and look at your foot, only to find it is a mess. The wound is infected. You have nothing on hand to clean and care for it and the pain is becoming severe.

Complaints are like the sensation of a pebble. They come to tell you something is off course, and to take corrective action. In the case of the pebble, your body was making a request—please stop your walk, untie your shoe, take off your sock, remove the pebble, clean your foot, put your sock back on, then your shoe, and tie it up. You ignored your body’s request so it complained louder and louder until you finally stopped and paid attention to what it was asking.

Imagine the outcome if you had stopped at the first sign of a complaint. How much more ease, joy and fun would life be if you took action as soon as there was a niggle of a complaint?

We can train ourselves to listen to our complaints in empowering ways. We can practice asking questions. What is causing the disturbance? (What is the pebble in the shoe?) What else is possible? What can you choose to make your life better?

I’m imagining there are pebbles in your shoes at this very moment. Perhaps they are not actual little rocks. Maybe there is an issue with your health, or there is irritation at work. Life is full of annoyances. What are you going to do about it?

Join me for the next Lift Up into Possibility Together program starting Thursday, January 24, and learn how to move from irritation into creative action. Discover how choice creates, and how you are the one designing your life.

Yours from Planet Joy and Gratitude,