Sunday, June 16, 2013

Turning trials into triumphs...



“There are two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”  This quote was made by one of the brightest minds that ever lived – Albert Einstein.  The more and more that I read and study the art and skills of personal development, transformation, success, and fulfillment, the more these wise words ring true for me.  It’s really easy to think of things as a miracle when all of our dreams and desires are met.  It is easy to believe in miracles when you meet the man/woman of your dreams, score the dream job, and everything in life just seems to be falling into place for you.  It is easy to believe in miracles when life turns out exactly like you planned, exactly like you hoped it would.  But what happens when that devastating break up occurs?  What happens when your dream job lands just out of reach?  Or how about when that investment goes sour?  What then? Are only good things that happen miracles and the bad things that happen not?  When “good” things happen to us, we tend to party, and when “bad” things happen to us, we tend to ponder.  We tend to ponder about why we aren’t good enough and why bad things happen to good people, and on and on and on.  But what if these “bad” things are not really such bad things?

Many times the things that we perceive as negative because they were not a part of our original master plan turn out to be blessings.  I have had many challenging things occur in my life, yet if I look hard enough, I can see the miracles in every single one of them.  (Integrating that emotionally as a part of my nervous system to really embrace the change is a whole different conversation!)  But if I look hard enough there is a gift in every circumstance.  When we look at heroes like Viktor Frankl, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa, there are miracles that came out of all of their challenging situations.

There are certain key actions that can be taken to transform your life as though everything is a miracle:

#1 The answers reside on the inside – not the outside

Much of why I write these blogs are as much for myself as they are for you.  I spend hours and hours every week reading and listening to audios on spirituality, success, relationships, and fulfillment, but nothing creates the powerful transformation that seeking my own answers from within does.  The hours of studying create a resource, but that resource must be tapped from within.  My two favorite ways are meditation and writing.  Meditation gives me the opportunity to observe my thoughts, and writing gives me the opportunity to coherently (I hope!) put these thoughts into an organized arrangement. It is such a paradox that in a world where it is so easy to stay connected to the outside world are usually exactly the things that disconnect us from the inside.

#2 Everything is a lesson

As Wayne Dyer says, “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.”  We tend to group things in our lives into good and bad.  What if we grouped everything into one category – life?  And we viewed everything in life as part of the true master plan that was providing us with circumstances and opportunities to become the highest versions of ourselves.  That challenge and success were both two sides of the same coin equally serving us to create the life of our dreams.  When we learn, we grow.  When we grow, we become more fulfilled.  But in order to grow we need to be challenged.  Many times the prayers that go unanswered tend to be more powerful than the prayers that go answered.

#3 Live with love and integrity

Our greatest lives come from living our lives with love in our hearts and integrity in our mind.  I have never met someone who lived with regrets when they were serving humanity with love and integrity.   Imagine if we all strove to live with the love of Mother Theresa, the resolve of Nelson Mandela, the integrity of Martin Luther King Jr, and the mentality of Viktor Frankl.  Imagine if you expressed the love for your family, friends, and clients the way Mother Theresa did for the sick and indigent on the streets of Calcutta.  Imagine if you had the resolve in your business to deliver the highest quality service and goods to transform as many lives as possible the way Nelson Mandela went to jail for 27 years to stand by his ideals.  Imagine if you lived with the integrity to stand by your beliefs the way Martin Luther King Jr did knowing that any day could be his last when he got up on platforms around the country.  Imagine if you developed the mental toughness that Viktor Frankl did, surviving years in Nazi concentration camps while he watched his wife, kids, family, and friends perish all around him. 

We have all been given this gift called life and it is up to us to decide what to do with it.  No matter where you on this journey, whether you feel like you are at the very beginning like myself, or you are further along like some of the ones like King, Frankl, Mandela, and Mother Theresa, enjoy the process and know there is always room for growth.  There is always room to create more change and more transformation in ourselves and in the lives of others.  Just don’t forget to love and appreciate yourself in the process.

Love,
Matt


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