When someone steps on your hair

Recently as I was playing with my kids, my sweet little two year-old stepped on my hair.

The instant I felt the pain, I pulled away to get out from under her little feet.  It was my instantaneous reaction, albeit not very smart.

Lesson learned: 

When someone steps on your hair, don't pull away.  Lean in, and gingerly remove them from off your hair before pulling away.

I know, I know... it's not an experience that most of the people in the world will ever have, but it reminded me of a principle worth mentioning.

When you have pain in your life, financial or otherwise, just don't panic.  Panic can lead to instinctive reaction, and instinctive reaction can often result in more pain overall than is necessary.

Subconscious programs kick in when you're in "fight or flight" (panicked) mode.

The key is to lean into the source of your pain, address it without panic or negative emotion, and handle it with a cool head.  You'll be able to solve your problem and avoid unnecessary suffering.  

If the problem is that you're short on money, don't retreat from your problems, lean in.  Go to the person you owe money to, and talk to them about it with a cool head and with the intention of finding a workable solution.  If you just pull away, hoping the problem will go away if you just retreat quickly enough, remember the lesson I learned from the two year-old who stepped on my hair.