Splash. 6pm EDT this past tuesday. The stranded astronauts returned back to the earth. I am quite sure a sigh of relief first from them and then the rest of the world, to finally have them safely back home.

So many days I keep a regimental control pod my schedule. It is most irritating when things do not go as planned. I saw these brave space farers adventure and was humbled.

Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore were “supposed” to goto space for 8 days. Well an additional 278 days later their journey came to a fruitful end. I find myself losing patience just being on hold on the phone, or feeling like giving up after 30 minutes on the treadmill, or quitting when something does not go right, or I get frustrated if the computer is not fast enough, or someone does not reply to my text in under a minute.

These astronauts have taught me that patience is an art. They were stranded for almost a year with barely any real food, water, and recycled oxygen and with the vacuum of space just inches away from their bodies at the other side of the space station shell. With possible looming death at any instant floating in space they had to dig in and be patient. This many have been an ultimate test of endurance, beyond anything that I have learned about endurance in Ironman or marathon races.

Self control, discipline, adaptation, and problem solve were necessary tools to cultivate as they watched continued failures and delays from earth command stations and companies. It was heroic for sure for the astronauts and everyone on the ground trying to figure out how to work the situation to get a solution.

I was inspired to learn that I too can have plans that go awry, unexpected challenges may come my way and I am “forced “ to go with the flow and find answers to the riddles of life’s hiccups. Practices of meditation, staying present and observation are key elements playing a role in either the outcomes being successful or disastrous.

………………

I love you