It reminded me of the time Laura Petrie got her big toe stuck in the bathtub faucet at a fancy hotel, and Rob had to get her dressed (pretty racy for 1965) so the plumber could come in and cut off the faucet.
I have come to realize that most of the time, other people are so concerned with themselves that they have very little awareness of me and my little struggles. It is probably a good thing that people don't know everything that goes on in this head of mine! For example, all morning I have been thinking about something I read yesterday. Tony Robbins writes that human beings need both certainty and uncertainty in their lives. On first thought I approached this statement with doubt. Of course, certainty made sense. But Uncertainty? But the more I thought about it, the more I was able to embrace the idea.
We long for security, but if we knew with certainty everything that was going to happen to us, our lives would surely be terrifying! There would be no room for surprises, both large and small. If we knew with complete certainty what was going to come our way each day, what reason would we have to venture out?
One source of minor conflict between me and my husband is that he is much more goal oriented than I am. I do have some overarching goals that guide my life--things like taking over the world of art, and being a better person. But I am definitely not good at setting and meeting smaller goals. That is one reason we have started having a specific focus each day.
Wait a minute! This probably, now that I think about it, is a ploy on David's part to make me more goal oriented!!! I know he means well. In the same way I am always trying to make him eat less salt, he is forever trying to make me more self aware, denying me the pleasure of wandering willy nilly through life without purpose or plan. I prefer to see my methods as being more open to discovery. I have goals. I just don't always have them clearly defined. What the hell, I am most likely just in goal denial. I have goals. I just don't like to think about them. As Bruce Lee says, "A goal is not always meant to be reached. It often serves simply as something to aim at." I like that philosophy. It allows me to have goals in the abstract sense, and it still leaves me a place to fall when I fail. (And David will be delighted that I managed to quote Bruce Lee in my blog today.)
So today my goal (damn it!) is to become more physically flexible. And I will attempt to embrace the idea of making and reaching goals while remaining mentally flexible and open to unforeseen adventures. It seems appropriate to close today with more wisdom from Bruce Lee:
"All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns."