In the 1830s, American inventor and painter, Samuel Morse, began perfecting an electric telegraph. In 1844 he transmitted the short biblical phrase, “what hath God wrought”, by wire from Washington, DC to Baltimore, Maryland. SOS is a Morse code international distress signal, and the only nine element symbol—making it easily recognizable.  It’s also an ambigram, which means it can be read upside down.

When ships were in peril, the telegraph operator would send the signal.
Although there are some people who always seem to be in “peril”—continually in crisis mode and in need of “saving”, for most of us it’s not the case. It seems to me that the majority of us rarely, if ever, send out a distress signal—even if we feel like we’re close to drowning. That may be because we’re stubborn and think we can manage it all, and do it all, ourselves. Maybe it’s because we believe we have to be self-sufficient, and put our needs, concerns and problems on the back burner while we take care of everyone else. Many of us have been taught that it’s not okay to be vulnerable or to need comfort in a rough time, a helping hand, or a listening ear. We  think, “we ought to have it all together”. Ego, fear and upbringing get us to a place where most of us simply don’t or won’t admit we need help. We won’t tap out the SOS signal. We feel like we’re risking weakness or being “needy” when all we’re really doing is being human.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Jill arranged for me to have a ninety-minute massage. She figured that with all the stuff going on with my dizziness/forgetfulness/stress about adjusting to a different reality, that some relaxation would be in order. Not only did she present the gift, she gave the masseuse a tip, and drove me to and from the appointment. Pretty amazing, right? But I, in my “I can take care of myself”, “I can’t accept that kind of gift”, “there are so many who could use this so much more than me” mentality, had to fight the initial response to say “how kind, but I’m really alright”. Being grateful for all I have is the easy part, so I’m trying to be better at accepting help. I’m also on a journey to be able to ask for help—to send out an SOS to those I know are happy to pick up that signal. Want to join me on that journey? If so, the challenge for this week is to ask just one person, to help you with just one thing. Let me know how you do!
I hope you have a beautiful week,
Kay

©2016 Peace Full Home/Intentional Living