As I look out at the swimming pool, the tiny ripples on the pool look like life – which is never smooth. There are always things – bumps in the road, ripples in the pool, lumps in the oatmeal that disturb our ‘perfect life’. How do we deal with these things? I guess it depends on the size of the bump or the ripple. Did your car just fall into a pothole? Is there a tidal wave rising in the sea as you sit on the beach? These big events are tough to deal with, but really, shouldn’t we try to cope with these big disturbances with the same ease as the small ones? We can choose to be angry with our circumstances, or instead rely on our inner strength – our ‘selves’. The inner strength lets us absorb the world around us and move on – to live another day.

The victim sees the bumps and ripples as bad luck, where the hero sees them as an opportunity. Sure, we can feel disappointment that our car was totaled in an accident or our leg was broken during an amazing ski run. It doesn’t change the fact that we as humans can decide how to respond. WE choose what we do. WE choose how to act. WE choose to accept where we are and just keep on living. Although so many things are beyond your control, the one thing we can control is our response to life’s ups and downs, twists and turns. Who do you want to be the victim or the hero?