When It’s Time to Call 9-1-1

Imagine that moment when 9-1-1 calls come in. 

Picture the person who answers the phone.

No matter what is happening on the other end, that dispatcher must stay calm and centered and coordinate an appropriate response.

They must be calm about whatever is happening at this moment.

Lasered in on who is on the other end of the line.

They have to be a good listener.

They have to take it all in.

And no matter what, they can’t get emotionally highjacked.

Imagine that!

Ever wish you had those skills on a day-to-day basis?

I do.

I can call on my most grounded dispatcher at times. 

But other times, she is nowhere to be found. 

Instead, I show up in a reactive, emotional, or anxious way.

Kind of like “Anxiety” in Inside Out 2. That high-energy but frazzled planner. 

As human beings, we all have many parts at our disposal to help us handle a crisis.

When someone calls 9-1-1, we all have firefighters inside ourselves who can address a blazing flame. We all have a paramedic within who knows how to provide comfort and healing. We also even have those security or police parts of ourselves who provide protection and know how to follow the rules. 

Each of these parts have important skills they bring to the table. They know how to take charge in a crisis. 

But we need regular access to them. 

And to get that access, those parts need clear direction from headquarters.

Our headquarters? 

That’s the Self.

The untraumatized part. The part that is centered and whole and is an excellent dispatcher—it knows what team to send in and when.

Imagine this part of you.

That part who knows what you need. The part that knows what is possible. The part that knows what to let go of. What it wants to create.

I recently returned from some time in Scotland. When we were in Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands, we passed the offices of The Orcadian.

The Orcadian is the local newspaper that keeps this community of about 10,000 people connected and informed.

As we drove by the office, the local guide said that the paper prints the latest Hatches, Matches, and Dispatches.

The births, weddings, and deaths.

This made me laugh. 

Those are the fundamentals, aren’t they? 

What do we birth, align with, and what do we let go of?

So, along those lines, what has hatched in your life lately?

What have you matched with that feels in alignment with you?

And what situations or people might you be dispatching from your own life?

I have had a number of people dispatched from my life and I became despondent at the loss of them. I have also had to dispatch a few friends. A few former partners. And I have been dispatched a few times myself.

But imagine connecting more powerfully with this 9-1-1 dispatcher within. Remembering this part of ourselves that connects with wisdom, experience, and equanimity in those moments we need it most.

That dispatcher then calls on whatever is needed to help us out in that storm.

What is weighing you down? What might you dispatch from your life right now?

And perhaps even more exciting, is what needs to be hatched? What might you give birth to right now that would give you greater energy and passion to live out your days?

The brilliant writer Toni Morrison once said, “You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”

I think newspapers like The Orcadian that have been sharing these marvels of life for generations are onto something. We all need to focus even more on what we might hatch, match, or dispatch.

What I know is this: We can’t always predict the next time we will have to call 9-1-1. Or the next time someone calls on us to help them. We won’t always know what emergencies are on their way. 

But we can train our own dispatcher to be centered and ready for action when they arrive. 

What does the dispatcher inside of you need to be ready?

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