you've been hacked (no, not you, not really)

You've been hacked! 

That was the header to the email I woke up to at about 1:00 AM last night. Actually, my bad completely as I woke up, rolled over, picked up my phone and started to go through emails.  This is probably why all those expert books tell us not to keep our phones next to our bed.  We get up.  We start reading.  It's all over - you're not going to bed anytime soon. 

But back to our story.  The email went on to say a bunch of other stuff meant to scare me into paying them ransom.    Real?  Fake?  I'm not sure but I started thinking about what happens to us - or speaking for myself (me) - when we allow ourselves to easily buy into a story.  That's exactly what I was doing.

My first inclination was to believe it without any evidence or aspects of credibility.  I initially reacted with fear (our go-to emotion), then a search for evidence, solutions and on and on.  Until I realized something:  I can decide how to respond to this or if I choose to respond at all.   I can decide if it's simply a story and a story I want to adopt as truth.   I could even decide if I wanted to make it My Truth and start living into that story and that truth.

Regardless of what I decided, we're constantly being hacked like this.  Sometimes it's by ourselves and sometimes its external forces.    We get to decide what to do with the hackers.   We get to decide what serves us, others and what we're trying to create and be in the world.    Think of it next time you're hacked.