It was 7pm, we had finished dinner and my eldest was playing on the floor with her dad while I was cleaning the dishes with my youngest next to me. Just a quiet evening, the day coming to an end. The countdown had started until the little ones were in bed and we could have a few hours to ourselves.

Suddenly I heard a loud bang and looked to see what had happened. She wasn’t upside down, and she wasn’t crying. “Phew”, I thought. “That mustn’t have been so bad”. They I hear her say, matter-of-factly: “My tooth is different”.

Suddenly blood was streaming out of her mouth, she was screaming in despair and my husband was yelling that her tooth had fallen. A real freak accident.

If you’re like me, you don’t like surprises; good or bad for that matter. And this one was bad. My baby, loosing a tooth at 4 years old! Not being “perfect” anymore! Why did this happen? How unlucky! How could I have prevented this from happening? Why did I allow this to happen?

It was my lack of sense of control that had caused me to freak out (maybe that’s why they call it a freak accident?). But it made me wonder how much of “life” we can control. The answer is, not much.

Certainly not things like the weather, or unpleasant strangers, which also spoil our moods. And definitely not how my daughter’s chin will land on my husband’s collarbone at such an angle that it knocks out a tooth.

There is no such thing as controlling life. It took me years to realise, and only recently did I learn how not to get hijacked by this voice that is telling me that I could, or even worse should control it.

With practice and joining my programme, you can get there too.

In case you are wondering, her tooth miraculously did not fall out. It’s still there and it has even turned back to its original colour. We got lucky, I guess.