Yesterday, as I was following Gaia up the stairs to her study, 
she said –
“Careful! Watch the banana skin there!”.

And, sure enough, there at the edge of one of the steps was a banana skin.
Which I picked up.

And I thought how good a health and safety video this would make.
And I pictured the scene, in slow motion, as I came jauntily down the staircase, then slipped on the banana skin.

And it adds a great metaphor for a subject we’ve been pondering this week… 

Anticipating the Downs

This is the thought:
That when we’re in a jaunty positive mood we tend to make lots of jaunty and positive PLANS.

You know the type of thing – 

• I’ll walk first thing every morning
• I’ll meditate every day
• I’ll eat only a salad of an evening
• I’ll stand up for myself more often
• I’ll go sea-swimming through the winter
• I’ll watch less TV and read more instead
• I’ll speak my truth to everyone around me

The thing is, we tend to assume, when having such jaunty and positive intentions,
that we’ll continue to be jaunty and positive.

But life’s not like that of course.
And I’ll be careful about mentioning ‘curveballs’ here because I’ve just realised I don’t really know what a curveball is,
though I’m guessing it’s an American thing, some awkwardly pitched ball in a game that looks a bit like rounders only with helmets.

Life has its downs as well as its ups.
We feel good, then we feel not so good.

And if you make any plans without remembering this,
then the moment your plans hit the rocks,
or you fall off the wagon,
or the curveball flies towards you,
or any bloomin’ metaphor that, for you, denotes things are going a bit pear-shaped,
then your crash is even crashier.

So, here’s the thing.
Make jaunty and positive plans, sure.
But DO Anticipate the Downs.
Do know that you might fall off the wagon at times.
But anticipating this also allows you to realise that you can simply get back on the wagon.

You see?

Now, one thing you don’t want to do, of course,
is build in aspects that will create downs for you.
And these are the banana skins on the staircase.

Don’t create situations where you know things are likely to go wrong…
watch out for that.

But, other than that, build in a knowledge of your own human nature of being somewhat up and down and down and up.

Yes, there ought to be some small-print on the box for us humans –

Warning: humans can go down as well as up.
Their limbs are at risk if they leave banana skins on the stairs.

Love,
John & Gaia x

To find out more about  John and Gaia and how they can support you to live The Fuck It Life – click HERE