Posts tagged ‘Challenges’

January 9th, 2010

A Shift in Perspective Can Mean More Than a Better Attitude But a Chance for a New Outcome

For the past week I’ve been fighting a cold. I say fighting because not only was my body fighting germs, but I was fighting with myself (Do nothing and feel guilty vs. Do something and stay sick longer).

In the end, I fought the urge to be productive and succumbed to the highly seductive task of sleeping in, not exercising and reading.

What did I learn?

It was a lot harder to do nothing than it would have been if I had gone to zumba for an hour every day like I normally would. And in the end, I did do a few crafts and exercise a few days last week.

But what I learned was that the most difficult part was shifting my perspective from, “If I don’t do anything, my world will come crumbling down” to trusting that everything was already working fine without me and would continue to do so whether I was working or sleeping.

Instead of working half-butt on my biz with minimal energy, I focused inward on the self-doubt and anxiety that started to arise when I was doing nothing. I meditated, read Martha Beck and stared off in space a lot.

And somewhere in between, I had a sudden feeling of peace and assurance that my business wouldn’t fail if I took a break. That what was lacking in my job search and query writing was faith. I needed to learn how to trust that everything would work out in the end. And that I could really only do so much.

If I was going to get the clients I wanted to work with and the jobs that inspired me, I realized that I needed to start with a relaxed state of mind. Desperation, anxiety and fear were only going to attract negative energy and situations to me. I know because it already had, in the past.

And you know what?

A week has passed. I am no longer sick. I am well-rested, refreshed, optimistic and have a whole slew of potential clients just from this past week.

The best part? I don’t have to worry anymore. Because when I wasn’t looking, the world kept turning and going along just fine, without me.

May 23rd, 2009

Synchronicity

Synchronicity is kind of like a God wink. It’s what happens when meaningful but unrelated events randomly come together (Wikipedia).  I’m all too familiar with the term since it’s occurred quite often in my life.  Several years ago, for example, while I was going through a particularly difficult time, the rain brought me to an old musty bookstore.  Here’s a passage from a 2004 blog entry I wrote about the event:

1) I am grateful for old bookstores on a rainy day. Walked into one and was looking for some message or sign. I went directly to the religion section and found nothing. Walk toward psychology/self-help, mystery, no clues. Headed out towards the exit and stopped to see “Daily spiritual thoughts.” The cover was unbound and torn. The middle pages looked like they were burnt. I turned to February 21. It said patience. Patience and appreciation that like nature everything comes in due time. Flowers start from the seed in the soil, it takes several days and months before they unfold and bloom into a flower. How can we expect life to hurry because we want to find out the answers? In times of distress, be patient and trust like the seed to the flower, with love and patience, our answers will unfold and develop in time.

May 16th, 2009

Faith Keeps One Foot in Front of the Other

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I had a lightbulb moment when I realized that ALL people regardless of social status and class, go through moments of uncertainty.  

Though it’s easy to get lost in the familiar tunes of “woe is me,” it also doesn’t really suit your cause.  If your cause is to fulfill your dreams.  I just got this a few days ago as I was typing away thinking about how that BIG space in front of me that points to my future was still empty and I still didn’t understand how I would get from where I was standing to where I wanted to be.  I started to fantasize about all of the successful people in my life and the ones on TV and thought about how they were so lucky that they had life figured out and didn’t need to think about these things like me.  And then it hit me!  They still had challenges like everyone else but maybe that mountain in front of them is that much bigger because they had already climbed all those bunny slopes before then.  What a wake up call that was.  

I thought about Oprah’s story the one that she tells of not knowing whether she could make it on TV and the funny moment when she pronounced Canada CON-YA-DA and started laughing live on camera.  That’s when they put her on a morning talking show and in an instance she knew that that’s what she was meant to do.  It reminds me a lot of hiking.  When you see that mountain up ahead, sometimes it’s hard to struggle and put in the effort especially when there are days you doubt whether you’ll make it.  But I realized that all you need to do when your in moments of self-doubt and uncertainty, is do what Finding Nemo’s Dory says, “Just keep swimming…” and somehow that blank empty space in front of you will transform into steps, tiny at first, but then it’ll become clearer and more certain and soon you’ll be there-right at your goal!

April 30th, 2009

Reading the Signs

w20-11The other day, I took a walk and noticed a big sign that read, “Road Work Ahead.” Then I thought, what a great representation of life.  Right when you think you’ve got life figured out, some obstacle, a roadblock, challenges you to rethink your life and you’re stuck asking yourself that age old question, “Why me?”  

Life IS about change after all and though we sometimes want to avoid it, there will always be more roads to build, more paths to heal, and more decisions to be made.  The great thing is that the choice is always in our hands.  Do we, for example, when faced with an obstacle turn around and run the other way, keep trekking on, or take a break and reflect on where we’ll go next?  

Regardless of how we respond, the great thing about signs is that it reminds us that life can be as magical as it was when we were kids.  The magic lies in the small, seemingly insignificant events filled with miracles and signs of hope that’ll lead you to the real gold at the end of the rainbow, your dreams.  The key is to open our eyes and hearts to possibility and be fully present in every day moments like these and have the courage to take a deep breath and plow ahead.

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