Tornados – Mother Nature’s and Mine

The tornado watch thankfully just ended. At least the one outside.

With cell phone alarms and TV warnings that it was headed right for my neighborhood, I went into a doomsday scenario: what if our house is leveled? What can’t I replace?  What would be a pain to replace?  Fervently, I gathered family photo albums, valuable jewelry, treasured artwork and my computer. I grabbed some water, snacks, and my wallet – and I put them all in a corner of the basement.

And despite my intense focus, I also realized 2 important things:

1. While replaceable, my ‘things’ told my past and present life story: places I’d been, selected styles of décor, saved masterpieces from my children. Curated and carefully displayed, they are daily reminders to me and my guests about things I value.
2. I was prepared to deal with this storm without regret. That is, I have made peace with all those I needed, I have protection in place for those I care about with appropriate insurance and paperwork (will, power of attorney, etc). And for many years now, I have consciously worked to be the person I want to be known.

This confidence kept me calm.
It allowed me to remain smart, productive and not lose control of my body or behavior.  I did not yell or sweat. I did not freeze or freak out. This doesn’t mean I won’t continue to create my own constant life chaos or even lose my grip more than I’d like. I’m sure I’ll still take on too much work and complain too much. I’m sure I’ll continue to admire others enviably and otherwise feel unlucky.

It doesn’t mean I will accomplish everything I hope nor have the ultimate impact I want.  I’ll never feel completely fulfilled or ideally influential. I’ll continue to find that I frustratingly missed information and opportunities.

But confidence allows us to live on a solid personal foundation.
Confidence affords the most fortunate foundation to protect us from life’s constant tornados and other challenges. This is what I am committed to research, codify and share. I know now that it is a desired foundation that anyone can build at any age. This is what we teach at the Institute through brain training tips, tools, and techniques.

Our goal has always been to use science to develop this personal foundation to help everyone cope better when life inevitably kicks our confidence – or even surprisingly threatens to demolish our homes.

We may not have the ability to always combat Mother Nature. No doubt we will have to deal with other people’s and our own imposed storms. But we can deal much better by being armed with authentic, unwavering confidence.