"Houston, we've had a problem."

Had an incident at work yesterday that shook my foundation a little and reminded me of . . .

One of my favorite lessons in history is the story of Apollo 13.  On the evening of April 13, when the crew was 200,000 miles from Earth and closing in on the moon, John Swigert flipped a switch for a routine procedure requested by flight control in Houston.  A moment later, the entire spacecraft shuddered, alarm lights lit up in Odyssey and in Mission Control as oxygen pressure fell and power disappeared.  That's when John Swigert famously uttered, "Houston, we've had a problem." (The 1995 movie "Apollo 13" evidently took some creative license with the phrase, changing it to "Houston, we have a problem" and having the words first come out of Apollo 13 commander James Lovell's mouth -- though I've read different versions).

For years, back when I was a video editor, I had the "Apollo 13" movie poster in my video edit suite to remind me to stay calm when I experienced frustrating problems.  A reminder that not completing on-time that oh-so-critical "Last chance! All inventory must go! Below invoice pricing" car commercial was just an INCONVENIENCE.  Floating around in space, working to get back to earth alive, is a PROBLEM.  And, if those guys could stay calm in their situation, I certainly could put my circumstance into perspective and calm down.

I was reminded of all this yesterday while training for a job.  Things were benign and routine, when, for the first time to me:

AUDIO ALARM!  (A very loud, sharp, shrill noise that shakes you to the core).
COMPUTER SCREEN ALARM:  (A large flashing icon that simply read "PANIC ALARM!"  and the location in the facility).

Someone, somewhere in the facility had hit their "Panic Button."
Very unsettling to say the least.  I did my best to stay calm, call the code to proper authorities, and wait.  Turns out, it was an inadvertent push of a wrong button.  All was well. 

So, after my heart beat fell back down to near normal, I went back to what I was doing -- recognizing that I probably really didn't stay all that calm.

Synchronicity:  Today's Tao lesson was on "Staying Calm in the midst of Chaos."  

Some advice:

The true master knows that the ability to stay calm is always located within, not in circumstances.

When you maintain a peaceful inner posture, even in the midst of chaos, you change your life. 

Choose calmness in the face of a situation that drives others to madness.

Stillness is the master of unrest. 

And, from a real-life lesson,  Houston, we've had a problem.  Now, let's choose to calmly go step by step to fix it. 

Hopefully, I'll remember that the next time the PANIC ALARMS go off in my life.

Carpe diem Life,
David Kuhn