Overcoming Obstacles and Adversities.

Recently life took a few twists and turns. Projects not taking off as planned, roadblocks
and hurdles. I was left for a time at a low point, wondering “what the hell else can I do”?
Sometimes we just reach a point where we sit back and ponder where we might have
taken a wrong turn, what was that critical mistake that made the difference between
success and something less than. I recently hit a block that caught me off guard, and
sent me into my cave, so to speak, to hibernate on the meaning of life and ask the age old
question, “What now”?  The personal events are relatively unimportant, the focus being
on the outcome.  Faith gets tested, that’s for sure, and just when you think you’ve got it all
 figured out, something comes along and says, “Hey kid, you sure about that?”. What I
learned is that adversity teaches you what you’re really made of.  When you’re sitting
there, mired in self-pity and defeat, you reach, once again, the center, the absolute core
of your being. If you’re lucky, you’re reminded of who and what you REALLY are, what is
your true nature.  Me? I learned that I am a warrior of sorts.  How so? Simple, I always
get one more time than I am knocked down.  I learned that I have been “the strong one”
for so long that others have come to rely on me being exactly that, even so much as being
their personal reference point in their own lives when they’re facing troubles, etc. I also
learned that I enjoy being that, don’t mind it at all. I was also reminded to live as I speak,
which is an interesting thought to ponder. Life has an interesting facet in that we live
both internally and externally, and tend to sway between the two.  The TRUTH lies right
in the center, between the two.
 

Let me share with you what I have recently “become”. For most of my life, I would run
across a “thing” that I liked, enjoyed, became excited about, etc., and would grab on
with both hands, and teeth, get excited and follow it through until I either reached the
end, or burned out somewhere along the way.  I am sorry to say that the burning out
happened too much. “If I only knew then what I know now”. I have grasped a state of
being where, rather than latching on emotionally to a “project”, getting excited and
jumping in with both feet, until the excitement wore off that is, and burning out halfway
through, I now have the ability to simply Decide and Do. This has led me to a number of
things.  My ability to focus, and hence ignore a lot of the distractions that Life has a way
of throwing at us constantly, has grown exponentially, for which I am eternally grateful. 
The energy with which I can now approach whatever I choose is more of a slow burn than
a flash fire.  It feels almost divine in nature. I guess that’s one of those “For those who
know, no explanation is necessary, and for those who do not know, no explanation is
possible”. So, now I’m back on track, so to speak, even though I have some “cleaning
up” to do in the meantime.

When you find your center, file that place away, and keep returning to it, that is where
your TRUE power lies.  “A ship without a sail can only go where the weather takes it”. To
set your sail means to write down goals, and break things down to where you are actually
 putting on paper a list of things to do the very next day.  Do this every evening, plan your
following day. It doesn’t have to be minute by minute, but a written list of things that you
have decided upon. Decide, and DO.

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