Good morning! I am reminded of an interview once done at the end of a professional tennis tournament. Roger Federer, often considered the best tennis player of all time, had won the tournament (in his career he won 100 tournaments). In the finals he beat Andy Roddick of the United States. Roger beat Andy a number of times. Andy was given the microphone to accept his second place award. He looked over at Roger and said, "Frankly Roger, this is becoming a little annoying."
Such is this thing about our norms and the fact that they keep changing. It is because life keeps changing and the norm of today is so different than five years ago. I grew up having school exercises of hiding under desks because of a possible atomic bomb going off. Today the kids have school exercises around an active shooter on campus. What will be next? We are constantly being challenged with new body restrictions due to age, with new world dangers, and with an ever changing life.
A friend of mine stated that in twenty years time man will not be able to live at the equator because of the high temperatures. Yet in the midst of how this dangerous future impacts each of us there is a characteristic that makes a difference for all of us.
It is our ability to be resilient! We have the ability to rebound from impossible challenges. Then the impossible challenge becomes the new norm. I'm reminded of the clinic that worked with children that had been horribly abused in their parental families of origin. One of the daily events was a playtime. During the playtime there were often incidents of 'acting out' caused by the horrific growing up times. One little boy always seemed to be able to handle himself and would often act as a peacemaker when the acting out occurred. His mother had been terribly abusive. The scientists set up a time to talk to the young boy. They asked him how he was able to seemingly step above the chaos in all the incidents. He looked at them and said, "My mother was the crazy one in our family, not me!" He had made his own norm and walked on his own path. He was not a victim of the world but a partner with the world.
Our biggest goal is to do this consciously. We do not want to be the frog slowly sitting in the pan of water that is getting hotter and hotter until we are boiled. Be aware of your new norms and face them with self-awareness! It will make a difference
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