You may be given a cactus, but you don’t have to sit on it.  ~Joyce Meyer

I have a few cactus plants.  They are covered with pokey spines.  Never once has it occured to me to sit on them.

Yet, when faced with a spiney situation, my first impulse is to throw my hands up in despair, fling myself into the nearest deep pit of impossibility, and impale myself on the problem.  I’ve come to realize this is merely a habit — formed way back in the day when I didn’t have tools and skills for overcoming difficult situations.  Now I have all sorts of ways and means to overcome obstacles, and it occurred to me … what if just skipped the part where I first sit on the cactus?

But how exactly does one not metaphorically sit on the proverbial cactus?

Introducing to you, Possibility Practice #1:  What Else Is Possible?

What Else Is Possible? replaces the following Meltdowns:

1) I can’t stand this cactus, it’s going to kill me
2) The world is coming to an end – because of a cactus
3) You’ve got to be #@$% kidding me, another cactus?
4) I’ve got a cactus and I’m going postal
5) That’s it, I’ve had it with cacti, I quit
6) I’m going to die alone in a ditch with only feral cacti at my funeral…

And More!!

Options include:

1) This cactus is an opportunity to practice not sitting on cacti
2) I’m about to learn something new about cacti
3) What would a healthy, flourishing cactus do?
4) Maybe this cactus is a tool rather than an obstacle
5) When life hands you cacti… I’m going to be rich when I figure out what to do with cacti
6) I’m going to look away from the cactus now — and look at all the other plants!

What cactus are you sitting on?

What Else Is Possible?