Yes, our Baja campus had one of those this weekend with Hurricane Hilary hitting the northern part of Baja rather than us in the south. Ironically, our MEA workshop that ended yesterday was called “Leading Through Uncertainty” which describes what our team needed to do when they were not sure which direction the hurricane was going to move.
How do you respond to close calls in your life?
When I had a flatline experience at age 47 (due to an allergic reaction to an antibiotic), I used it as a hotelier wake-up call that I no longer wanted to run the boutique hotel company I’d started 22 years earlier. When I found out I had cancer five years ago, I changed my eating and drinking habits, but only for a while. It’s like I battened down the hatches for a hurricane and, once it was averted, I went back to some old unhealthy habits.
I got some not-great news a few days ago with respect to my cancer. After having my prostate taken out a couple of months ago and a better-than-expected biopsy on my pelvic lymphs (less cancer had spread than they thought), my recent PSA blood test result shows more cancer than they would expect, so it’s back to the hormone depletion therapy (and, ladies, that means I’m going to be experiencing menopause again). Not yet clear whether I’ll have to do some focused radiation or not, but it’s likely.
So, how will I respond to this close call? That’s the question I will be pondering this week.
I spent some time this past weekend talking with a friend who lives in Maui within a 30-minute drive of Lahaina. Of course, he’s very shaken-up by what’s happening as the petri dish of emotions on an island are magnified. We talked about how his natural reaction the past week has been to generously give his time and money to neighbors in need. This “close call” has him meditating – not medicating – once again and he’s documenting and expressing his gratitude abundantly.
How might we think of life as just one big “close call,” such that our better angels rise to the surface all the time, not just when we feel fortunate that we averted disaster?
Hope you live in gratitude today, just a little more than you did yesterday.