Part of my perspective, part of the way I see life is that what we call “bad” experiences or situations, can always be viewed as good ones. There is Positive in every experience we ever have. I want you to know that when I say things like that it doesn’t mean that I never get down, that I don’t need and want the awesome love and support of my family and friends, or that I don’t get angry and frustrated by some situations my life finds me in. That part of me will always be there, because I’m human and I have emotions. But I do also want you to know that when I experience the tough times I make the effort to work through my troubling emotions and feelings, as I know that everything is happening to me for the right reason.
For the next few minutes I want you to forget everything you know about life, Challenges and how you see the world – almost everything anyway. Now I want you to start to build a foundation with me, the first layer of that foundation is made from the knowledge that life takes effort. It does. Sometimes it takes more than you could have imagined you had in you, other times you don’t even realize you’re putting the effort out. Life isn’t easy, and if anyone ever told you it was they lied.
The second layer of our foundation rests nicely on top of “life taking effort”, because “Challenge is at every corner”. Big ones, small ones, involving any and every aspect of your life, Challenges will happen to you as long as you are here breathing and they are a big part of the reason that life takes effort. Some people call Challenges disasters or traumatic events, I’m suggesting that what you call those events and how you look at them is a matter of perspective, and that leads nicely into the third layer of this foundation.
Choice, when we are faced with a Challenge and our life requires effort we all have the ability to choose one of two major options, we can be negative or we can be Positive. I can tell you, and I can site many awesome miraculous examples, that when faced with a Challenge you are always best to possess a Positive Attitude, make Positive Choices and take Positive Action. No matter what you are always best to be Positive.
Now solidify and mix those 3 layers together with a couple of very important beliefs. You must have Faith in the fact that all your life’s Challenges are in your best interests and you must also realize that there may be times when this belief will be tested, and as it is you need to believe that there is always Hope, even when it appears there is none, believe me it is there.
I have worked and proven to myself that those beliefs aren’t just something I created in my mind, but they are the way it is. That is not up for debate, I’m not asking for your opinion, my goal isn’t to convince you of anything, but I’m telling you this is the way it is. And taking those beliefs and moving forward to my present situation I think I have stumbled on another reason why Challenges are so rewarding.
The struggles, the times when you feel like crap, the physical pain, the time away from things and people you love, the suffering, if you want to call it that, all of those experiences are so valuable because they enhance the things you love. When you don’t feel like crap anymore and your body starts to recover, when your pain begins to slide away and you can begin to resume doing some of the things you love and spending time with the people you love, for me all those experiences then become so heightened.
Returning to some of the things I love helps me to realize how lucky I am to have had a break from them as my appreciation grows each time I do. This discovery has been brewing for a while as I have begun to resume many of my “work” related activities, the most rewarding of which is the planning and strategy of RealTime Cancer. The future planning, creating something that isn’t there yet, when I’m doing that stuff my mind is in heaven, and yesterday I got a great little taste of heaven that I have been missing. And that taste wouldn’t have been quite as sweet if I hadn’t been taking a break from it for the last little while.
The next time you have a bad experience I Challenge you to make the effort and see the Positive in it, cause I’ll bet you it’s there.
Always…
Live Life. Love Life.
Geoff
