Most of you have heard the wisdom that if your car starts skidding on the road, you should turn into it to stop your skid.  This is actually true from my experience.  I managed to test this out about 20 years ago on a wet curve doing 45 mph. (I was doing the speed limit, I promise.)  By turning into the skid about halfway through (when my brain finally kicked in and realized I had no other options) I managed to get my itty bitty Dodge Colt with turbo stopped… about 2 feet from a really large tree in line with my shoulder.  Turning into the skid kept me from being seriously injured.  I managed to straighten the car out and set out on my way, cathartic crying the whole drive home.  I knew after that, turning into the skid works and is a good “tool” to have in the fast lane.

This week, my meditation homework is to think about the concept of turning into the skid as far as life issues go.  I already know this works for me with procrastination.  If I have something I keep not doing, I ask myself “why”.  Often I find there is some decision point or some area I have not been authentic about.  I usually can get started again once I’ve been truly honest with myself or made whatever decision needs to be made.

One of the questionnaires for the class asked about different stress relief tactics you use.  It asked if you intentionally ate very nutritious food when you were stressed.  (Um, absolutely not.  The whole concept is completely foreign to me.)  But, I do see how it could be a wonderful tactic for helping your body deal with stress.  It could be a way to turn into the skid physically.  Hmmm…

Today’s artistic skid is Big Bertha.  So, why?  I’m hesitating on the tree because I’m not certain if I want the tree black or the background black.  In either case, I know I need to make more layers.  I’m pretty sure I want to use masking tape to rough block the tree in keeping with the background.  I also don’t know what shape I want the tree to take on the canvas.  So, to turn into the skid, I’m going to make about 2-4 tree sketches on the postcard paper.  I’m going to look up the gel vs. matte medium so there is no question in my mind as to what they can or can’t do.

Turning into the skid seems to be helping me through the week, but I’m still dubious about giving up pizza and chocolate in favor of salad or smoothies for stress.