Standing Water

[Bonus Track]

While on my usually-daily walk, I tend to dodge all kinds of obstacles. I have actually encountered a coyote who stared me down at about fifteen feet. He won. There are kids on bikes that believe the sidewalk is for them alone. I have shared the path with opossums and squirrels, as well as, a baby bird or two that have been forced from their nests. I am often reminded of how vast the community truly is that shares space in my world.

Last week while strutting my stuff, I unknowingly stepped in a puddle that had been there awhile. Standing water is never a welcome mat. As my heel came down, my foot slipped forward and I almost lost my balance completely with a foreseeable ending on my keister, feet straight up in the air. The slime that had developed in the shallow pool was just enough to cause me to slide forward about one foot before I was able to stop my land-skating double two loop.


My life flashed before my eyes and my first thought was, "Well, Rayanne, you really stuck your foot in it this time." Yup, that's what I thought. But I quickly transitioned that thought to "Save yourself!" and I was able to put my foot down and alter my course - a course that would surely have ended with a bruised tail bone, at the very least. One foot was "in it" and the other was being "put down."



Often in business, we face one crisis after another that has been caused by stepping in it or avoiding it. I would rather deal directly with the scum on my shoe, because then I actually know what I am facing. Avoidance never solved anything and usually, makes it worse. Facing a crisis head on gives you perspective and a comprehension of how and why the crisis occurred.

Putting your foot down once an issue has been identified and understood gives you the balance you need to steer through whatever the problem may be. Whether it's moving your foot to gain control or its setting it down to stop an impending and irresponsible response, action is typically necessary in order to change the outcome of a move that will ultimately end in disaster. Are you willing to take action? Are you willing to put your foot down when required?

What does your next puddle hold?






by rayannethorn




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[Maureen Sharib]

Rayanne, these words of yours caught my attention:
"...a baby bird or two that have been forced from their nests."

Reading over them my mind flashed to nature's ways. As a young woman, when I was trying desperately to hang on to my mother's skirt, she told me one day:
"Look Maureen, when a mother horse doesn't want her foal nursing anymore she kicks it in the head. Now go!"
It didn't feel so good but go I did, always remembering those words.
What forces baby birds out of the nest? Who does it? What happens to them in nature?

Are there parallels here with what has happened to so many in this recession?

[Steve van horn]

Glad you got your other foot down!
But, honestly your too young for your life to be flashing before your eyes on a slip, give it 40 more years before that happens ;-)