Keep Calm and Carry On

Power is so characteristically calm, that calmness itself has the aspect of strength.” – Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

Precious and Valuable

The two words above perfectly describe life. They help us understand the fragility that makes up this life. Knowing that we don’t get a do-over can make us live cautiously, never take risks and play it safe, or take advantage of every opportunity and moment to give everything we have and leave nothing to chance. 

Attached to the precious and valuable description of life is its quality. Martin Luther King Jr. remarked, “The quality, not the longevity of one’s life, is important.” For King, this was true. He lived his life with an unmatched ferocity, although it was cut short at 39. One marked quality that reflected Dr. King was calmness. It was a superpower he had to use often to turn the tide during the Civil Rights movement. In his autobiography, he recalled how during negotiations for the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott of 1955, he had to remind himself to stay calm and tame his anger, which could have yielded bitterness. 

While anger may be necessary to awaken and call attention to cause action, it threatens to run wild and do more harm than good without a calm mind. Calmness helped Dr. King channel his anger and those of others into a transformative force. How do we apply this superpower in a climate fraught with occasions for rage? 

Stay Committed to Your WHY

Reviewing, rehearsing, and reaffirming why you are doing what you do is necessary to maintain calm, especially when things don’t go as planned or expected. As a parent, I have learned that sticking to the WHY, which is to raise children who know they are loved, can make sound choices, and live out their God-given purpose, has helped me stay calm in moments I felt I was going to push the nuclear button and go ballistic. Calling to mind the WHY of parenting has helped keep my emotions in check in the heat of the moment.

There is plenty of heat around us –Health, racial, economic, and social heat. They all trickle down and affect our individual lives in one way or another. Putting your WHY in front of all the heat you may be experiencing is how you stay calm and carry on. Your WHY gives you the wherewithal to continue pressing forward when life attempts to pull you back. It becomes your shade, keeping you cool and calm when the heat of life rises.

Your WHY gives you the wherewithal to continue pressing forward when life attempts to pull you back.

I believe it’s what kept Dr. King going and calm as he navigated the wildfires of hatred, violence, and injustice that plagued his day. Commitment to a strong WHY gives you legs to keep standing.  What is your WHY? Can you flesh it out into words? Are you fluent in it? This fluency and commitment to your WHY keeps us acting with purpose, especially in the days we are living in. In doing so, we cease to become thermometers and elevate into thermostats. 

This Month

In addition to being committed to a WHY, the following guideposts will teach us calmness: 

1. Keep Calm and Carry On (today’s post)
2. The Priority of Calmness (March 13th)
3. The Practice of Calmness (March 20th)
4. The Reward of Calmness (March 27th)

Final Thought: We live in uncertain times. With calmness, we can stay cool in the heat of what is happening around us and continue with a firm commitment to our WHY. 

Keep on keeping on!