I fell yesterday. Literally. I fell. Hard.

On the ceramic tiles at the entry to our building downtown.

I had gone out for a breath of fresh air and on my way back in, forgot that when wet, the tiles are slippery. All of a sudden, where once I was standing, my feet slipped out from under me and Kabang! I was lying on my left side on the ground.

It hurt.

Body and ego.

I glanced around to make sure no one saw me, dusted myself off and struggled to my feet.

Whew! Nothing broken. Just a bunch of sore spots that would, I was pretty sure, turn to bruises.

But as the day progressed my body became stiffer and stiffer. My head hurt and my elbow ached. I wanted to come home but couldn’t. I had a 4:30 deadline I could not miss. I had to get it done. With 2 minutes to spare I hit the SEND button on my email and the document was gone.

I could leave.

I came home, told C.C. my tale of woe and crawled into bed. He pampered me and let me rest. Took Beaumont for a walk and played with him in the rain while I lay in bed feeling sorry for myself.

My critter mind wanted to get busy citing the litany of sins I’d committed to make this happen. “Of all the stupid…”  “You should have been more careful.” “You weren’t paying attention.”

I told him to take a hike.

He did, but not until sliding in his favourite, “It could have been worse…”

Yes. It could have been worse. But even that statement is a trigger to my critter mind’s desire to make me feel less than and be other than, in the moment.

It is what it is. A fall.

I did not break any bones. I got some bruises and this morning, before I take Beaumont to the Vet for his final round of shots, I’ll stop at the Chiropractor’s for a quick adjustment. My neck and left shoulder are stiff. My elbow and hip are bruised.

And that’s it.

end of story.

No matter how much my critter mind would like to make it into something else. Some catastrophe averted. Some “OMG! What if…” where I am left lying on the ground, broken and battered, with no help in sight. 

That’s it. I fell. I got up. I carried on. It wasn’t “my fault”. It wasn’t the Universe teaching me a lesson. It wasn’t some macabre whim of fate stepping in to trip me up. 

The ground beneath my feet was slippery. I slipped and fell.

And this morning, a new day is dawning. Daybreak has edged its way over the horizon to cast a new light upon the world. 

A new day is born.

I have a lot to do today and an evening meeting with a community association.

Tomorrow, I’m off to coach at Choices where hearts will break open and in their breaking open blood will flow freely and minds will expand and possibility of what is possible when love runs freely will awaken the spirits of all those who chose to take what Choices calls, “The Adventure of a Lifetime”.

In their hearts breaking open, anything is possible. A broken heart is an open heart and an open heart is a loving heart.

Yesterday I fell. Anything was possible. 

What’s real is, today I am grateful for all the possibilities of my day, for all the gifts of this morning, and all the opportunities I step into when I surrender my fear of falling and fall in Love.