Chaos, Change, a groundhog and Maggie Smith

I just saw the movie, The Lady in the Van with Maggie Smith and it was quite good.  I had been looking forward to seeing it since last fall when I saw the first trailer.  It was worth the wait. The movie was a great example of how a crisis and chaos can  happen and how we are forever marked by it.  This is what happened in the movie and certainly what happens in life.  However, we can often control the outcome by holding ourselves as observers and reducing our emotional reactions.

groundhog surprises

I have noticed that if we react with less drama to chaos then the outcome is often resolved more easily. If we stay in a  place of excessive emotion then the outcome and the resolution will be different.  Please note that I didn't say better or worse. In the movie, the heroine did not have the life that she expected but she certainly had a meaningful and impactful life. In my life, my Dad died when I was a teenager and I was  changed.  Truly, it made me a better , more compassionate human being who has been able to draw from that experience over and over.

Have there been experiences that you have been devastated by and actually gave you the tools to lead a more informed and aware life? Have you witnessed chaos and been able to step to the side and handle it with neutrality? Sometimes, it is not the perspective in the moment but the perspective of the Monday morning quarterback... that is most helpful.