We’d been planning this camping trip for a year, and I couldn’t wait to spend some quality time with my dear friend, Cheri Neal! I was bringing our popup camper so we could camp in style and hopefully stay a little warmer than a tent. We had spent Friday morning hiking 7 miles and were looking forward to getting to our campsite and cooking some dinner.

I was proud of myself for backing the camper into place without too much trouble. As I prepared to unhook and start the setup, I was hit by a horrible realization – I had forgotten to bring the keys for the camper!! Oh no!! When I left that morning, I knew I was forgetting something.

It was a 2-hour drive back to my house. So I called my husband. He offered to come to the rescue and meet us halfway! Cheri said she would drive and that the important thing was for us to spend time together. She wasn’t upset, although I felt embarrassed and frustrated.

I could have continued to beat myself up, but the positive attitude of my friend helped me realize that this was rich material. I also remembered my tip from a couple of weeks ago – What if You Believed that Things Happen as They’re Supposed to?  I was able to quickly recover my joy of spending time with my wonderful friend.

Life is constantly giving me opportunities to practice what I preach. And my experience totally aligned with a discussion I had with Cheri about the human operating system. We have an experience. How we think about that experience creates an inner state. That inner state influences how we respond to that experience.

Another way to think about it is –

In Every Set of Circumstances, We Get to Create Our Experience.

Think of a recent experience where you could have created a better experience by changing how you thought about it.