It didn’t happen.
That car you almost rear-ended while thinking of the teacher’s comments about your ten year old son. It didn’t happen; you stopped just short.
That banana peel on the stairs into the subway on Market Street, that little yellow glint of impending disaster, hard to notice with the late afternoon sun in your face. You avoided it — didn’t fall down fifty hard, concrete steps.
The call with bad news from home – it didn’t come. Your car didn’t break down on the bridge. You didn’t forget her birthday or the deadline due last Friday. It didn’t happen.
So much of our time is preoccupied with mistakes, with regret. An error at work that causes us embarrassment or loss. The accident that had us limping for months. That stupid comment made in too public a place. We wish it had never happened.
What about all the bad things that never did? Our day is filled with near misses. Amidst all our efforts and failures in navigating the day, why not pause for a moment’s reflection, a minute of gratitude for all those calamities that did not befall us?
We don’t need physical therapy for six weeks. We didn’t lose our jobs, not today. Friends did not abandon us. Our children are still making their way through the maze of school and socialization. Whether skillfully or just fortuitously, we avoided that banana peel.
Take a breath. Pat yourself on the back. Congratulate yourself on navigating the minefield. It’s something to celebrate!