DROP THE ANCHOR

THE VERDE WORD

'Cruising down the river on a Sunday afternoon' is a very old song.

 Do we all sing from the same song book?  

Do we cruise the same river?  

Are we on the same boat?  

How do we know when to drop the anchor?

In boating, there can be many unseen or unknown obstacles or issues such as tides, water depth, rocks, sandy or weedy bottoms, boat reliability, weather, odd bits of flotsam and jetsam and, other boaters who may or may not be proficient with their craft or navigational expertise.  Of course, the biggest worry, is being on a leaky boat.  

How is your craft?  Is it leaky?  On board are there life jackets, or water wings. Are there port and starboard lights or only a torch.  How about emergency beacons, or is there only a red rag.  How about going offshore, is there a compass or GPS system?

This is like our life, are things in place to cope in an emergency.  Are our heart, mind and soul healthy or are we drifting aimlessly on a leaky boat.

Whether the boat is the SS Minnow, PT 109, Mayflower or the Endeavour, we are always in control, we are the Captain, the Master of our ship and it's seaworthiness is in our control.

Life is akin to being on a boat cruising down rivers, floating with the tides or drifting with ocean currents. There can be dramas, disasters and unforeseen unfortunate events.  Do they occur because 'that's life' or do they occur because we see them happening in our minds aforehand.

Often, when seeing situations we often build them into problems without knowing the full facts. Irrationally we imagine things being worse than they are.  We may see disasters continually happening however, if we alter our mindset to see positive events, those positivities have more chance of fruition than the negatives.  The power of the mind is phenomenal.  We are the Captain , we are in control and how we mentally see things dictates our course and final outcome.

The boat is heading for rocks.  To avert or avoid hitting the rocks do we cut the engine, throw the sea anchor over the stern, reverse the engines, use the bow thrusters, drop the bow anchor or yell for everyone to jump overboard, each man for himself?


LIFE IS A CRUISE  

Life may be a cruise but before boarding and embarking there are preparations to be made. 

The boat has to be secure and safely tied up at the jetty with sufficient water and fuel on board and the engine bay and tank area has to be aired for petrol fumes.  

Following, there have to be enough life jackets for everyone, the weather forecast has to be checked, charts have to be surveyed for water depth (and/or, have a sounder on board).  It is wise to establish the locations of beacons, speed limits, obstacles, wash areas, submarine cables, off-limit areas, rocks and shoals.  There are also additional checks and procedures when going offshore because it is wise to advise the authorities of the name, size and type of our vessel, time of departure, intended course and destination and, estimated time of return.

All of these procedures and tasks hold the same principle for the metaphorical boat that is our life.  

There is no such thing as constantly calm seas.  Life can become wild, rough and tough and we may be tossed around in a dark cauldron of storm fury.  Life is about learning as, 'A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor'.  Experience is often the teacher of life's lessons.  How well we survive is often dictated by our level of preparedness.

When personal emergencies happen, how well do we handle them?  Will our boat be leaky or sound. Will we be mentally prepared and able to readily handle things or do we drop the anchor and tell everyone to jump.


EMOTIONAL PREPARATION

There is an old saying, 'forwarned is forarmed'.  This is very well however there are many times in life when the unexpected happens.  There is no telling when Jack will fall out of the tree, a partner has a health emergency, someone needs immediate mental help or, grandma fell off the roof.  The words continually going through your head are... 

"What on earth was grandma doing on the roof?"  

Are we able to spot gradual behavioural changes of those around us, can we see a negative effect from a loved one who uses social networking and may be a target of trolls.  

Can we identify stress, or that a child seems unusually very quiet lately, the horse is lame, the cat not eating her food, the goldfish floating on the water, they are all the mark of those around us being in need of help. Mind you, I think it is too late for the goldfish.

With less than desired events happening around us, if our main concern is the light in the fridge not working, this is a pretty good indication that our priorities are misplaced and we need to see things differently.  


BE REALLY PREPARED

By preparing and having personal practices and procedures in place to assist those with mental issues is a part of our emergency kit.  Naturally, also important is having spare medications and/or pharmacist scripts for those who may need them as well as phone numbers of people to contact in a 'just in case' situation.  Put everyone who may be needed, from the police to the local park ranger on the list.  We all know these things but make them specific to our area.  For example, if living in the bush, forest or park area, we ensure we have the phone numbers for bush fire emergencies, snake and bear handlers.

But most of all, try and keep grandma off the roof.

Loving those around us is wonderful but it is vast overkill to be constantly asking those folks every day, how things are going, and advising them they should do this, that or the other.  Even worse, is expecting disaster to happen.  Relax.  If those those we love need help, we will be contacted.

If we think bad or unfortunate events happen in threes, they will, because we are waiting for them to happen. What we think will happen, will, because our mind is encouraging the event.  If we are constantly waiting for 'the other shoe to drop', be prepared and either wear shoes with laces, don't wear shoes or take the other one off before it falls.  That is preparation. 

Like boating, although it is prudent to be prepared for the unforeseen disaster, by expecting and waiting for disaster to happen is a total waste of emotional, physical and mental energy.

Running our own individual life can be tough sometimes, running others is nigh on impossible.

Relax, roll with the flow, if we are caught in a storm, or suddenly heading for newly revealed rocks, like life, there are options.  We can head in from the storm or try and avoid the rocks by opening the throttle, sharply veer to port or starboard, and cruise home.

Things are rearly serious enough, nor is it always wise to simply drop the anchor.  
Preparation is a key to survival.

We don't all sing from the same songbook

We are not all on the same boat

We don't all cruise the same river and,

When and where we drop anchor depends on the situation.

Namaste,

Verde.