As a result, most people live their lives in fear and resistance of the uncontrollable believing that THEY know best what SHOULD occur in their lives. As a result, every time something occurs that is contrary to what they had planned for or hoped for, they claim it as a negative and moan about how unfair or hard life is for them.
What I have realized recently is that truly everything that occurs is a gift. Period. Now I know that this sounds to the rational, critical brain like an overly optimistic, naïve statement trying to paint in a positive light things like disease, death, flat tires, divorce, job loss, mean boss, etc…and it is important to note that I am not downplaying the painful or stressful nature of many of these items.
Looking back on my life however, it is amazing that so much of what I stressed over, cried over, was afraid of, stayed awake at night over, or even thought was “bad” or “hard” or “unfair” were actually very important experiences that prepared me for the future in ways that I could never have seen coming. Hard to see in the moment unless we look for the positive…and sometimes we have to look really, really hard to find it…but there is always a gift somewhere if you search hard enough.
I am inviting each of you to join me in looking for the gift in everything that occurs over the next 30 days. Just as a warning, this is not the easiest thing you will do, to say the least. Things will occur that you will want to swear are 100% negative, however, I invite you to really look at it and brainstorm ways this could be a positive rather than a negative. What I believe you will find is an amazing amount of positive in things that most people would swear have nothing good in them. This shift in perspective will enable you to be more at peace with whatever occurs, and ultimately free your mind from fear and insecurity. Forcing oneself to look for the good in everything is one of the most frustrating while still empowering things I have ever done, and I am gradually getting better and better at it which is exciting.
Along those lines, don’t expect to be perfect in this or you will likely get discouraged quickly, but rather use this as an opportunity to gently increase your awareness of your own mindset towards life as it occurs. When you notice yourself claiming something is bad or hard or terrible or difficult….just catch yourself and say….oops…there I go again, and then force yourself to come up with at least 3 positive potential benefits of whatever “bad thing” you are wrestling with. As you get better and better at this, you will start realizing how much of what is occurring around you is really a gift rather than a challenge, and as that occurs, your experience on this planet will improve measurably.
I invite all of you to join us on this challenge, and this blog has been set up to capture your experience so that all of us can benefit from each other’s learning experiences.
Excited for this challenge, and upwards and onwards.
JK