What to Do When the Unexpected Happens

You had no idea this was coming, now here it is. You’ve done your due diligence, you’ve maintained a reasonable state of readiness, may have been distracted by life’s sleight of hand enough to let something slip under the radar, or may have been blindsided by the inexplicable act of God. Now what?

Do you rant and rave, hoot and holler, pitch a fit or throw a tantrum? Do you get angry, upset cuss at or cry out to God, “Why?!”

If there’s anything we can know about life, it’s that stuff happens.

Like, bidding on an item that if you win it, the results will be life-changing. You’ve been watching and waiting for just the right moment… the clock is ticking… your finger is firmly hovering over the submit key… the time to strike is now! Bam! You got it! You celebrate your brilliantly executed coup! Sometimes in life, things do work out perfectly!

You get your phone out to take a screen shot of your win, and see…

Unable to access the network

Or some similar phrase on the screen… No, this can’t be. You refresh, and sure enough, your once in a lifetime keystroke failed. It doesn’t matter if you were posted up on eBay or your stock trading account, it’s a total bust.

What do you do?

Of course, anyone would be upset.

The idea of being surprised by the unexpected presumes that you had placed a reasonable amount of faith in a certain expectation. You have reasoned that given a particular set of circumstances, you would fully expect a particular result. In that moment when you are surprised to see an undesirable outcome, or resolution that was not what you expected, you are shocked; literally, a thousand synapses fire in your brain, like a huge surge hitting your inner power grid.

Expectation is a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum is elation, when something amazing happens when you took a risk and things worked out beautifully. On the other end, disappointment, or something much darker…

You can easily think of 20 times when something totally unexpected happened when you least expected it and the results were less than desirable, if not downright disastrous. Given enough time, you could increase the number of your list to 100 unexpected catastrophes, some more catastrophic than others, nonetheless, you could certainly come to the conclusion that,

Shit Happens

Regardless of why (I mean does it really matter in the moment, even though we try to find a “why” in a desperate attempt to find reason in the chaos or the treasure hidden in the tragedy), the sooner you’re able to gain your composure and exercise some sense of control of your own state of mind (because we’ve just determined, beyond a show of a doubt, that you cannot control everything outside yourself) when blindsided by the unexpected.

You want to find the center balance point of the expectation spectrum, which is

It is what it is

An acceptance that things in life simply occur the way they were mean to be. Accepting the divine in everything, even the unexpected surprises, when things don’t go as planned, and all of this is part and parcel of a bigger plan and purpose as you travel the journey of your life.

In moments, like these, this is such an opportunity to tune into your base vibration. Find the you within, the real, authentic you that see beauty in all things. How often do we get so attached to a process and expected outcome that we forget to stop and enjoy the simple things in life? The things that give us joy and meaning? It is probably time to,

Take a Break

Stop the madness and find comfort in the now, realizing that all things in life are perfectly perfect. Even though it may have been only moments ago, you can realize that what is done is done, and there is no magic time machine that can recreate that moment. It is done, and you have started a new life now. And now. And now…

As you are reading this, old cells are dying off and new cells are being created, and in this moment, you literally are not the same person you were a moment ago. Embrace the emerging new you and find comfort in the things that you may have taken for granted, and,

Let It Go

The event that threw you off-balance is over. We face inconveniences every day. This is all a part of life and you can choose whether to focus on the inconvenience or to shift your attention onto something more desirable. Don’t let the unexpected dominate you. You are the master of your life, you can choose to release your attachment to the outcome, if you want to.

Find Gratitude

As soon as you are able, set your mind on the things that are good, true and enduring and express your heartfelt thankfulness for the things in life that we often take for granted. We are so often so very blessed every day, but fail to take the time to review how amazing

every breath that we take
every beat of our heart
every move that we make
every step a new start

is.

Stay the Course

“Life is a journey, not a destination.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Life goes on and you must too. Keep moving and following the path leading to your highest and best and watch you new life unfold before your eyes.

Something good is coming your way…

What I’ve found through these unexpected experiences in my life is that something greater than what I had anticipated in the outcome to which I had become so attached was waiting just beyond my disappointment.

So, now, when things don’t go like I expected, I start to look around corners and over the horizon in the knowledge that something wonderful is en route.

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