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When Things Go Wrong
I have lived through many natural disasters, including the 1964 Alaska Earthquake of Magnitude 9.2 and the resulting Tsunami, the Eye of a Category-4 Hurricane, and the threat of tornadoes, but never a fire like the ones in Southern California now. I am in Mexico, so I am far away, but my heart goes out to everyone impacted and the first responders doing their best to help where they can.
The hurricane is the most recent in my experience, and I remember it quite vividly. Our trip insurance told us to get on the plane because Hurricane Luis was going to Florida, but by the time we landed in St. Martin, they had updated the forecast, and now it was headed directly for us. We were arriving on an island where everyone was scrambling to get off. The first lesson I learned was that the natural disaster was not my fault. I had so many people, including my dear mother, who told me that it was my fault that I had gone to St. Martin in August, prime hurricane season. What was I thinking? I am sure that some folks are hearing a similar type of story. Why do you live where there are fires? The truth is that everywhere is subject to something. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, pick your poison. You cannot control Mother Nature; you can only do the best you can for where you are at the time.
Hurricanes are a little more predictable than fires, so we were able to do a few things to help ourselves. Knowing which way the winds would blow, I picked the only hotel on our side of the island that fully kept its roof because I chose the one in the lee of a hill. We were safe and dry during the hurricane and after. I know this differs from many in Altadena who have lost their homes, but here is the lesson I learned. The only way out is the way through. We could have taken the boat company's offer to try to sail to another island (bad idea), or I could have watched the coconuts going 140 miles per hour from the outside (also a bad idea). I could have thrown up my hands and said there is nothing I could do. But the truth is there are always little things we can do to help ourselves. Pick a hotel. Get food and water. I found that even though the world is blowing away around me, I can still be okay.
Last of all is what I learned after the fact. This hurricane happened in 1995, and I had not found our philosophy yet, so it was not until years later that I learned this lesson. I had a Practitioner who taught me the valuable lesson of “Telling the truth of my experience.” Ten years after the hurricane, one night, I was recalling the experience, and I realized that there were so many stories I had made up that were not true. For instance, I had minimized my anxiety at the time. Not a surprise; who wants to admit to themselves that they were anxious and distraught as the hurricane was approaching the island? But years later, in looking back and telling the truth of what I really experienced, I was able to build on my faith in Spirit. I had lied to myself at the time because I really was anxious, having never been in a hurricane. If I had told myself the truth, then I could have dealt with that anxiety better, at least better than stuffing it down below my radar. What I have learned now is to be in touch with what I am feeling in the NOW MOMENT and not wait ten years to relive it. In this now moment, I can call on Spirit to guide me, but also to comfort myself with the knowing that I am in God’s Hands, and that is so much better than doing it on my own.
So, my dear Ahiah, as you move through this time together as a community, remember there is no blame and no shame. Move through it together, and you will reach the other side. Tell the Truth of your own experience to yourself right now, and let Spirit be your guide as you navigate your way through all that you are feeling and living through right now.
You have people praying for you. I know that I am.
Blessings,
Rev. Scott Olson