Last week, I had just finished my Beauty & Blessings post when my computer froze and within a short time, my post was gone. No trace of it. The time I had put into it, gone.
Have you ever been there? Whether it is a relationship (with someone or a company), leaving early only to be stuck in traffic leaving you running late, writing a paper or working on a deadline, etc. If it hasn’t happened to you, I’m sorry to break it to you, but it probably will. BUT, it doesn’t have to be the end of the world…unless you let it become that.
Unfair situations happen. Relationships end without prior notice. People are given the walking papers to a job they’ve had for years/decades. Red lights happen. Accidents occur. Computers crash or face glitches. Things beyond our control happen every day that threaten to steal our joy.
But you and I, are greater than our circumstances.
So what can we do when our circumstances try to get the best of us?
1. Take a DEEP BREATH followed by another. A yoga teacher once told me that every breath is our body’s built in detoxification system. May you and I remember that with every breath we take, we rid our bodies and souls of the things that we do not need.
Close your eyes while you take those deep breaths if you can. Even for a minute, this allows us to reset and focus on what truly matters. Become present in the present.
2. Change happens. It will not wait for you and I to be ready or willing participants. It doesn’t ask for permission or provide notification. The secret in dealing with change of any sorts lies within the word. ChANge. Focus on what you CAN do not what you can’t.
It’s easy to think “I can’t afford another payment, I can’t give an hour of my time, I can’t ….I can’t…. I can’t….” Beware of entering the “I can’t” trap as though it may feel justified for the moment, it only leads to a deeper hole of self-pity and despair.
Instead, FOCUS on what you CAN do and what you DO have….whatever that may be. I CAN take a deep breath. I CAN pray for someone. I CAN pick up an extra canned good to donate at the grocery store. I CAN….I CAN… I CAN….
3. Remember that this moment in time is just a part of the bigger picture. It is a piece to your puzzle. It is a page in your story. As someone once said, “This too shall pass…”
4.You may not be able to control your circumstances but you certainly can control your attitude towards your circumstances. And that my friend, is even more powerful.
5. To be completely free, I must be completely me. Choice. Responsibility. Freedom. Repeat.
Ladies and gents, inconveniences come in all shapes, sizes, and names. They come wrapped up in unfair situations, unexpected situations, and things beyond our control. The invite and challenge to you and I is to meet, greet, and overcome these attacks on our sanity by remembering who we are and whose we are. Be ferocious against your fears. And as Joyce Meyer reminds us, “be more persistent than the devil.”
Your happiness, your sanity, your day is at stake.
And the truth is, YOU ARE BEYOND WORTH IT.
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