“I’m in trouble,” I said out loud, and quite calmly, with no other human ears to hear me.
A few moments before this declaration, I had considered whether I could safely take down our Christmas decorations from the top shelf in our storage room. My husband was out of town and wouldn’t be back in time for me to get the lights on the tree before our son and daughter-in-law arrived that evening to help us with the ornaments.
I took stock of the boxes above me. I took stock of my physical fitness, including my strength and balance, which I have been targeting this year in my workouts. I checked in with whether I thought this was wise or unwise, based on what I thought I knew about the various components of the situation.
After careful consideration, I decided I could do this if I moved slowly and intentionally.
You’ve got this, Martha!
Until I didn’t.
Once up on the chair, I saw that the long plastic box with the ornaments we’ve collected over thirty years of marriage, plus some that had belonged to our parents and their parents before them, was lodged on top of the bigger boxes with the tree lights and other holiday decorations.
Because a pipe blocked me from taking down the ornaments first, I tried pushing that box to the side a bit so that I could tilt the bigger box down towards me, making sure that all of my core muscles were engaged to receive it.
Shifts Happen
This is the moment where the unanticipated shift happened. The big box slid into my chest with a thump, considerably heavier than I had expected. Gratefully, I was able to hold my stance on the chair.
I was stuck in this awkward physical position, figuring out my next move, when the ornament box began its downward slide. This is when I stated the obvious out loud. A simple statement of fact. I was in trouble, and I needed to keep my head as clear as possible, conserving my energy to keep myself safe.
If I removed a hand from the bigger box to stop the ornament box, I would have definitely been taken down with all of it. So I stayed as present as I could, prioritizing my physical safety, trusting the unfolding of the situation. I had accepted the consequences of the falling ornament box even before it hit the ground with a very loud crash.
Taking Stock
I was able to push the big box back onto the shelf before stepping off the chair to assess the ornament damage. I do wish I had taken a picture of the mess! It was quite dramatic looking at first glance.
But when I actually started to pick up the pieces, I discovered that only three ornaments had been broken, none of them very meaningful ones. I actually laughed when I discovered that a baseball ornament and a football ornament had broken, since these are the only two sports my boys never played. I’m sure I bought those in a sports set for the soccer ball, which remained intact!
Celebrating My Sage Responses
As soon as I was safely back on the ground, and especially after I learned that the actual damage had been minimal, I moved into celebration mode. I was really proud of myself for navigating the situation with my Sage powers, thanks to my Positive Intelligence Mental Fitness training.
What are those “Sage Powers”?
Empathize
If I had wasted mental and physical energy with “How could you be so stupid,” I would have activated my amygdala’s fight/flight/freeze response. Cortisol would have filled my body and I would have been cut off from the rational problem solving part of my brain. I probably would have tried to save the ornament box and fallen off the chair in the process.
Our Sage’s Empathize power reminds us that we do our best with the information we have, that unexpected shifts happen in life. I can be kind to myself in the same way that I am kind to loved ones and friends when they have setbacks. And I can learn from the situation.
I won’t try to take those boxes down by myself again. I am grateful for the new knowledge I have gained, and inspired to keep up my strength and balance training.
Explore
Our Sage’s Explore power keeps us in curiosity rather than judgment. When we judge ourselves, others, or a situation as good or bad, we cut ourselves off from curiosity.
Even in the midst of the “trouble”, I stayed curious. Most interesting to me was that I didn’t experience stress or cortisol in my body, even as I watched the ornament box launching into the air.
I stayed in Explore mode as I was examining each ornament during the clean-up, feeling joy and lightness in my body that comes with our Sage powers. If I had allowed my Judge (the ring leader of the voices that sabotage our emotional well being) to drive my reactions, the energy would have been heavy, unpleasant, negative, and unhealthy.
Navigate
The Sage’s Navigate power connects us to a simple question:
“At the end of my life looking back, what’s most important in this situation? And what’s not as important as I might think it is?”
Since the shift happened so quickly, I needed to make a split second decision on how to respond. The answer to the Navigate power’s question came quickly: my physical safety was more important than saving the box of ornaments, plain and simple.
Afterwards, I realized how my sustained Mental Fitness training (supported by over a decade of mindfulness practice) has made my Navigate power part of my autopilot setting. This is a true superpower for skillful in-the-moment decision making.
Innovate
The Innovate power activates our creativity to come up with possible action-oriented responses to a challenging situation. Though the fall of the ornament box happened quickly without much scope for innovation to stop it from happening, this blog post is the manifestation of my Innovate power.
Choosing to share my experience with you translates my difficult situation into the gift of inspiration. Instead of staying stuck in negative emotion, I can take action to turn the mishap into something meaningful.
Activate
The Activate power condenses all the information we have collected from the other Sage powers and channels it into clear-headed, laser-focused action. My Activate power is the engine that is keeping my butt in the chair to write this blog post.
Interested in learning more?
I hope you’ve enjoyed my Sage Powers in action story! As a Certified Positive Intelligence Mental Fitness Coach, it’s my greatest joy to accompany my clients as they bulk up their Sage powers and learn to intercept the inner saboteurs that keep us stuck in negative emotion, hindering growth and self-actualization.
I have a new 12-Week Mental Fitness Training beginning on January 13, 2025, and still have a couple of spots open. The January 2025 group will be for women only.
If this opportunity sparks curiosity in your heart, please join me for a free, no obligation information session on Zoom on Tuesday, December 17, from 1:00 – 1:50 pm ET. To receive the link (and a recording if you can’t make the live session) REGISTER HERE.
I hope to see you there!
