Dear ,
Sometimes the problem is not really the pickles.
Sometimes it is the tone.
The hurry.
The pressure.
The feeling that someone else's stress has suddenly landed in your lap and is now demanding to become your stress too.
In today's Sparkly story, Pesky asks Alma to help make mustard pickles.
Alma agrees. She is willing to help.
But she needs to finish something else first.
Pesky the alpine chamois (mountain goat), already flustered, becomes impatient.
So Alma steps back into the peaceful mountain den and tells Sparkly:
"I offered to help make the pickles - but not to get hollered at."
Sparkly puts a gentle arm around her and says:
"Help make the pickles without becoming pickled yourself."
That made me smile.
But it also holds a real lesson.
Many caring people think that helping means absorbing the other person's urgency, irritation, fear, or disorganization.
But helping is not the same thing as merging.
You can care without collapsing.
You can assist without rushing.
You can stay kind without letting someone else's emotional chaos take over your nervous system.
That is the Pickle Strategy.
It does not mean refusing to help.
It means separating the real task from the emotional storm around it.
Maybe the pickles still need making.
But that does not mean Alma has to become pickled too.:)
This week, notice one place where someone else's urgency tries to become yours.
Then pause and ask:
What is the real task here?
What help can I honestly offer?
How can I stay kind without losing my calm?
You do not need to solve the whole mountain today.
One steady next step is enough.
With warmth and sparkle,
Christine
P.S. I wrote more about this gentle Sparkly lesson here:
Read: The Pickle Strategy
P.P.S.: And if life feels steep, foggy, or overwhelming, you can also get my free guide:
The 7 Steps to Climb Your Mountain of Life
My New Book: Recover Your Sparkle: Finding Hope, Meaning, and Your Next True Step
Coming soon...
0 comments