Week 20 – Reflections

Reflections of Where I live

We live in a huge state in the south-central area of the United States of America (USA).  I live in a Dallas suburb, in north central Texas.  According to Wikipedia, Dallas is the third largest city in Texas and ninth largest in the whole USA.  The weather here is “humid, subtropical” with hot summers reaching into the low 100s and “cool to mild” winters with average lows in the mid to high 30s.   I am only giving you all that background hoping that you will realize that what happened to us this week is not the norm.

Reflections of This Week

It has been another weird and crazy week in my life, but not just my life.  It’s been crazy in the life of most everybody in the state of Texas. 

It all started a week ago when we started having freezing temperatures and black ice started forming on the roads.  Unfortunately, there were multiple car wrecks including a 133-vehicle pile-up on an interstate in Fort Worth, just 36 miles west of me, in which six people lost their lives.  (We have had black ice before, but this was the worst pile-up in Texas history!)

Then late Sunday night homes began to lose power.  I was without power for 16 hours and 10 minutes and my condo got down to 45 degrees.  (I usually keep my thermostat on 75 because of health issues that cause my body to hurt when I get cold.)  I began to experience “rolling blackouts” with other people on Monday night.   My “rolling blackouts” started with one hour of power on, five hours of power off, not the forty-five minutes on, forty-five minutes off we were told by the utility company. 

Monday night the temperature got down to 3 degrees here.  Gradually the power has been staying on longer and longer. I did not lose water until yesterday when the HOA turned the water off to all buildings in my complex because of busted pipes. (At that time my building had running water and no busted pipes.) There was even snow on Galveston Beach which is 311 miles South-East of me.  Like I said, this has been a very crazy week with unusual weather for Texas.

Reflections of Class

During this week, I am reminded of some of the things I have learned in The Master Key Experience so far. 

I am not going to talk about who should have known what, or done what, to be prepared for this weather that we were warned was coming, because I have been practicing “no opinions.”  This doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions; I just don’t express them unless I have expert knowledge of the subject AND I am expressly asked for them.  I have not been 100% perfect on this, but I have gotten a lot better since I started this practice.   It has helped me to keep my sanity during this and other times during The Master Key Experience (ie:  the political election).

Reflections of Gratitude

I have also been reminded by The Master Key Experience to focus on reflections of gratitude on a daily basis.  I write them on index cards and read them each day.  This has helped me to feel grateful this week instead of feeling sorry for myself. 

I did ask people to pray for us in Texas, but I still was practicing gratitude.  Remember “The Law Growth,” one of the seven laws of the mind?  It says whatever we focus on grows; so, the more I focus on what I am grateful for, the more I find to be grateful for.

Here are just a few of my gratitude reflections for this week:

• I was not without power for as long as a neighborhood less than ½ mile from me.  (They were without for thirty-two (32) hours.  Yes, you read that right 32 hours.)
• My condo did not get down any lower than 45 degrees. 
• The temperature did not go any lower than 3 degrees.  (It went to 1 degree at my brother’s house just 18 miles North.)
• Base layers, sweatpants, sweatshirts, & the Christmas gift of lamb’s wool socks that I received last year.
• Lots of blankets.
• Food to eat that did not require cooking.
• Coat, scarf, & gloves that I wore on top of my base layers and sweats when my power was out.
• A fireplace and wood.
• Friends who have checked on me daily.
• I don’t have to walk a dog in this weather.
• I have drinking water and a ¾ full tub for flushing and washing hands.
• My mom is safe at her assisted living facility.  She was always fed & has never lost power or water.  
•  I had friends from Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and South Carolina who have checked on me. 
• I have had over two days of my power being on continuously.
• My insulin pump never fully lost its charge.
• This too shall pass.
• I found a restaurant that was opened tonight & delivering.
• The lessons I am learning in The Master Key Experience.

Conclusion

Before you go to bed tonight, I suggest you write down your gratitude reflections. It will change your life. While you are at it, say a prayer for the people in Texas.  We can use it. 

To read another blog post about my Master Key Experience click here.

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