Years add wisdom, difficulties build strength, love moves mountains, tears nourish growth, dreams reveal purpose, character buries superficiality...Truth IS.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Unmasking the true nature of trial and challenge

Good morning everyone!

Well, I've just been through a "cosmic storm" of sorts...or maybe it could even be termed a "test" on what I have learned as of late.  I find it almost intriguing how there is always a test after you learn something about yourself and put into practice a new attitude for a while.  When everything is going along swimmingly,  it is quite easy to keep this new-found attitude of positivity and appreciation of what you have.  However, throw a monkey-wrench into the workings; and where then does our attitude go?  Does it revert back to what we once thought was normal for so long....or do we keep that same new attitude?  The difference between these two options is very telling of whether we truly learned and changed or if it was just "easy" to change while the circumstances were going our way.

I am happy to say...I've kept the new me intact!!  I mean sure...while we are going through rough patches, it is normal to be confused, frustrated, and even feel a bit sorry for ourselves...we ARE human.  However, do these rough patches turn into a valid reason to complain, be pissed at the world, and sit around thinking that someone or something out there has it in for us?  The old me would have said..."why yes...it does",,,BUT instead, I took them in one at a time (and there were quite a few within a 2-day period)...and instead of thinking or asking "why me"...I thought "why not me..."  I am not immune to circumstantial fallout. From there, I accepted the challenge.  I took each problem and figured out a feasible solution.  Each of these solutions took a bit of ingenuity and a commitment to a little more work on my part...or even a little help from others, but on the third day of this, there is really nothing lost I'm very proud to say, I kept myself very neutral.  There was no overconfidence and no under-confidence.  There was a willingness to accept what it was and allowing it to be...no attachment to cause or effect, but just a solution that fit within the realm of what I could actually DO about it--then, a letting go.

So I wanted to share this with everyone because when you extract a lesson from pain, frustration, and/or just poor decisions and you add to your wisdom...there will ALWAYS be a test of what you ACTUALLY learned.  But I think the universe gives us enough time to actually put into practice those things we have learned to become one with them before it drops the "pop-quiz."  It may be a little scary and we may even be compelled to go back to that "normal comfort zone" (& I've done this MANY times in the past...painful, negative, and confusing as it was) just because we are discomforted, but I am here to tell ya...I am more proud of myself for practicing this new attitude despite the discomfort and I even learned MORE valuable lessons in so doing.  I've had to hold fast to priority and let a little luxury go even if it takes more effort on my part.  I've also learned that having a specific need met may not always come in the "package" we would prefer..but if we are in a position to prioritize need OVER preference, it works...and that is the important thing.  These occurances were there to try to reconfigure my priorities FOR me...they were meant to make me panic and turn me from "knowing in my gut" what I had to do and doing what I would feel circumstance forced me to do. I found a happy medium in remaining neutral and not balling all of these little matters into the bigger picture...They each had their own solution that didn't TOUCH the main copacetic goal.  All it asks is "how much harder are you willing to work to bring it to pass"...my answer...as hard as I have to.  Problem solved and life back to normal...in a VERY short time.

So, with all of that being said...I wish for all a very wonderful day, an appreciation of what you have and what you, yourself are capable of doing to "fill-in" during those times when you feel you've lost something that made it a lot easier for you.  Accept the challenges that life offers you and test yourself, your integrity, and your boundaries. It is a very healthy exercise from time to time to know where YOU stand with YOU.  Any and all trials are there for that very purpose.  They are not automatically meant to defeat you...they are meant to engage you.  Listen to your gut, know your priorities and be willing to bend when the benefits definitely outweigh the detriment.  Don't waste your energy finding cause...because it really doesn't matter.  Coping with what is will offer you more options for solutions.  Equally, wasting your focus on specific outcome keeps opportunity for solution more limited.  Solve one problem at a time and you need not worry about how it came to be or where it will reappear in the bigger picture...if it is solved...it is SOLVED--forget about it and let it go and keep on keepin' on!!

"Don't waste your time trying to control the uncontrollable or trying to solve the unsolvable, or think about what could have been.  Instead, think about what you can control, the problem you can solve with the wisdom you have gained from both your victories and defeats in the past."~David Mahoney.

"Every problem contains within itself the seeds of its own solution."~Stanley Arnold.

"Problems are to the mind as exercise is to the muscles--they toughen and make strong."Norman Vincent Peale.

"The majority see the obstacles--the few see the objectives.  History records the successes of the latter, while oblivion is the reward of the former."~Alfred Armand Montapert.

xoxoxoxoxoxo



  

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