About three weeks ago Florida was under hurricane warning and watch. People panicked big time, they ran to their grocery stores and packed their shopping carts with supplies, put up shutters on their windows, lined up at gas stations to fill up tanks upon tanks of gas, and prepared for the “worst”. Schools closed down for two days, and businesses arranged for their employees to leave in time to get home to safety. We were expecting winds of 40 mph or more and heavy rain. This all took place while tropical storm “Ernesto” made a long 18 hour stop in Cuba.

All along I went about my business, my daughter was home sick this day and I was unable to go to work; therefore I was home watching the news casters telling everyone to “prepare and beware”. Interestingly enough we had just run out of water and my husband mentioned that he was afraid that there wouldn’t be enough gas left over for when the hurricane went through. I told my husband, and everyone else I ran into that nothing was going to happen. There would be enough gas and water and that we were better off waiting for the lines to cease before going out and getting these things. Sure enough I knew with certainty that everything would be fine, and I encouraged everyone around me to feel the same. I live in a community were we use the term “mind over matter” a lot, but sometimes we don’t practice it, but I felt that everyone, even with the precautions they were taking, knew that nothing was going to happen. My husband went to work the next day, Ernesto was due to arrive that afternoon, and he got off early. I worked for a few hours until the winds began to pick up. By now the gas stations were free of long lines and even though there wasn’t much water left at the grocery stores my husband had managed to get us a couple of gallons. ………AND EVERYTHING WAS GOING TO BE FINE!!

I think most of you know the end of this story because it was broadcast all over the country. Ernesto literally “blew” through Florida as a weak tropical storm, and even though it was a bit windy it only managed to blow a few leaves off of palm trees and maybe a dingy sign here and there. There was hardly any rain, as a matter of fact it has rained harder since, and people were able to go about their businesses like normal. My daughter and I took the opportunity to go shopping this day, since she had the day off, and we found that most businesses were open and most people were out and about. As soon as Ernesto was out of Florida, for some reason it picked up speed again and managed to pick up speed and even flood a few towns along the rest of the East coast.

I finally saw “The Secret” this week and I am so grateful for the wisdom shared by all those amazing people, most of whom I already know and love. It just reinforced what I knew the day of the hurricane, that we have the power to transform every situation and that even natural disasters can be avoided with the power of our consciousness. I urge everyone who reads this to remember it if they are ever in a situation like this.