How to Recenter Your Wobble

I was home alone. I thought someone had broken into the house. Thumping and banging. Then I realized the alarm system would have alerted me if a door or window had been opened. So logically, my imagination jumped to ghosts. In the basement. More thumping and banging. This is where the horror movie zooms in close on the frightened girl, and the audience yells, “Don’t go in there!” But I surprised myself and went to investigate anyway. It was…the washing machine. I found it on high spin-cycle, walking its way across the floor, thumping, banging and wobbling.

My load of laundry had included some bath towels, and they had all clumped to one side causing an imbalance of weight in the drum.  The centrifugal (or is it centripetal? I always get those confused) force threw the clothes out of their neat circular orbit into more of an ellipse, and hence the banging of the inner drum against the sides of the washing machine.

We all feel this way sometimes. Problems weigh heavily on us, and they throw our lives off center. We get a wobble that may start small, but then it begins to feel like we are spinning out of control. The solution? Getting balanced and centered.

So what does it mean to be centered? It involves finding a peaceful balance to life, a clarity of thought, and keeping stress in check.

How do you do that? Here are some thoughts on recentering:

  • Rearrange the bath towels.  Think of stress as the towels. Health problems. Financial issues. Emotional turmoil. You can’t remove them from the washer (they still need to be cleansed), but you can rearrange them. Don’t try to tackle them all at once.  Prioritize the items that need addressing and try to keep things in perspective.
  • Remember the Serenity Prayer: accept what you can’t change, change what you can, and know the difference between the two.
  • Take a moment to calm yourself. Take a deep breath. Meditate. Pray. Or whatever you call it.
  • Remember that it could be worse. As Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata reminds us, there will always be “greater and lesser persons than yourself.” As bad as things might seem at the moment, there are always others who are suffering more than we. Count your blessings.
  • Do for others. Focusing on helping others will help get your mind off your wobble, and you’ll feel better.
  • Take a little “me” time:  listen to a great song, or if you have a couple of hours, watch a favorite movie on DVD.
  • Get some exercise. Even a walk around the block can clear your head, and exercise is good for tackling a multitude of wobbles.

And remember that wobbles aren’t the end of the world. They’re just temporary. Be a Weeble. Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down.

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