Welcoming What Is

What we resist, persists. What we welcome, we are free from.

Hi Beautiful Being!

Wowzah, we have had a week!!! While I firmly believe life is on my side, these last few days felt more like it’s against me. It was like getting sucker punched, and kicked while you’re down—only to be blindsided just as you stand back up. Can you relate?

Last week, the lovely Lisa and I spent a wonderful long weekend up in Germany. We went to a P!nk concert (a wow minus the zah), had a wonderful time exploring Stuttgart some, and got to connect with some beautiful friends in Heidelberg. Then, as we were in our seats on the plane waiting for clearance to takeoff and fly back to Sicily Sunday evening, the pilot told us over the intercom that the flight was canceled due to weather!

After they bused us back to the terminal, we found the line for the Eurowings counter to get things sorted. It was nearing 8pm, and there were at least 2-300 people in front of us. Sigh.

Not too long later, an agent came and told us: “We cannot rebook you. There are only two of us, and the flights are already full. So, find a hotel, rebook yourself, submit a claim, and we’ll pay you back.”

Within a frantic hour-and-a-half, or so, Lisa and I had found some lodging, and I had us on a flight—with a layover in Milan—Monday night. I think it took me at least six tries to actually get a booking request to process. I’m guessing a lot of people were doing the same thing at the same time. Long story short, the cheapest flight I could get was $830! Which reminds me …

The Eurowings agent also handed out a form that informed us of our “passenger rights”, which happens to have a clause about not being liable for weather! The flight was running substantially behind in the first place because of the airline, so fingers crossed they’ll pay us back.

As if this wasn’t enough: Lisa was scheduled to fly to Scotland for work Monday morning … well before we could even depart Stuttgart. And as if the stress of all the above wasn’t enough, because she couldn’t change her Airbnb reservation more than 24-hours in advance, we’re on the hook for over $1000 there. She works for the U.S. federal government—which isn’t exactly known for its grace and understanding. LOL.

Not only is it not known for kindness, it’s not very efficient either. Case in point, the morning after we got back home to Sicily—at 3am—the pay department notified Lisa that some comedy of governmental errors led to us owing $1900 on her travel card that we “hopefully” will get back!

That said:

I find that no matter how fierce the storms of life raging “outside” are, as long as long as I’m at home on the inside, all is well.

This is why during hard times, with full honesty, I frequently tell Lisa: “Babe, we have each other, which makes any hardship pale by comparison.”

Speaking of the bright bits of life, my adult kiddo is coming to visit us for four weeks! Yet, while Kato was scheduled to arrive from Seattle in Sicily Thursday night; we woke up that morning to a text letting us know the first leg got bumped a day. Since I used miles to book that part, and arranged the trip from London to Catania separately, that meant I then got to scramble to rebook the second leg! While that all ended up coming out of pocket, fortunately KLM gave us a voucher for the missed flights.

Finally, just as the dust seemed to be settling … the power in our villa went out … in the middle of the summer in Sicily! Thankfully, we have an amazing landlord. Antonio not only came over after work to spend an hour on the phone with the power company—he then came back at 1am with an electrician to fix the problem by installing a new power box.

(While our power out, Lisa and I enjoyed a lovely candlelight dinner, and played cards.)

As you can imagine: At that point, there was a LOT of emotion coursing through mine and Lisa’s veins! We had ALL the feels going on! Now—full honesty—while my bias is to reframe or ignore all the “bad” emotions, my partner’s is to embrace and identify with them. What is more, neither of our predispositions is “right” or “wrong”, they simply are how we’re wired. And both come with blessings and curses.

This brings me to the tagline:

What we resist persists. What we welcome, we are free from.

To the degree that I resisted the stress, struggle, frustration, fear, anxiety, and so on of this week—which I’m not innocent of—those emotions turned into “infections”. What I mean is they infected some of what I said to Lisa with unkindness, my inner monologue with self-judgment, my spirit with turmoil, and my body with aches and pains.

Conversely, to the degree I welcomed this week’s stress, struggle, frustration, fear, anxiety, and so on, those emotions were given “wings” to fly away—leaving me calmer, kinder, and more confident on the inside. In other words:

Emotions are a bit like people, they just want to be seen and heard. When we do so, they bless and benefit us. When we don’t, not so much.

Before I leave, and hopefully hear from you, beautiful people—I’d like to note one more thing. Literally all the financial worries I detail above are nothing more than future possibilities. Literally every single one of them might very well resolve in our favor. Lisa’s boss even said as much about the Airbnb. That makes me wonder: How much time and energy do I waste tripping about things in the future that might never come to pass?

Before you go, beloved reader: If you enjoyed this, please click the “like” button 🤍 and subscribe, as kindness is happiness. Also, your thoughts matter—so, we’d love to hear from you in the comments! And, if you know anyone this could bless or benefit, please consider sharing this offering with them. Finally: YOU are amazing, and I hope you have a beautiful day!

Hugs & Love,

Lang (aka“Dr. Love”)