These are our friends, allies and mentors.

Appearing as enemies on surface, these seeming threats are our most helpful teachers on our Earth adventure. These apparent foes repeatedly demonstrate how we humans have awesome power over our fate and circumstances in life.

When faced with an expected outcome we don't like, we have an option. We can open to an alternative scenario, another framework, a different set of rules. I jokingly call this handy ploy "switching channels."

I discovered that we all have ability to change channel or perspective from which we are viewing-and creating!-our Earthvision series. When plot line goes from situation comedy to melodramatic soap opera, we can do something about it!

We can simply let go of our old way of viewing world and allow a fresh point of view to emerge. When we decide to turn dial, we find ourselves shifted into a new reality-a different station with a new story line that has a much better ending!

Grace to Rescue

I first noticed this saving gift of grace when I was a kid. I've always enjoyed thrill and challenge of dangerous situations.

On ice rink, I discovered that if I completely collapsed into a fall, I came out unscathed. Caught in a precarious position when tackled on football field, I went with force of hit to tumble out of harm's way. When in a sharp skid while driving, I embraced skid by turning directly into it to straighten car. When my feet slipped on a rocky trail, I went with twist or slide and landed-like a cat-upright and stable. Like proverbial drunk falling safely down staircase, I used to sled down a steep set of wooden stairs on a makeshift cardboard toboggan, deliberately crashing at bottom and never getting hurt.

I practiced knack of letting go in everyday situations, so that I was able to successfully apply skill in much more urgent and crucial predicaments.

The Alchemy of Abandonment