Sunday Story...Positive and Realistic

Sunday Story…Positive and Realistic

I believe in the power of positive thinking. I believe that if I can conceive it and believe it I can achieve it. I believe the most powerful tool on earth is the human mind. I believe that a right attitude will serve me better and longer than any amount of money or other success. I live a life of abundance, prosperity and wealth. I believe this to be true and my bank balance is not part of that equation.

That being said, I also believe in being realistic. It does not serve me to ignore the economic realities around me. The power company gets paid or they shut my power off. The grocer will not let me walk out without paying for my goods. The reality of the world says that there are certain things that have to get done for things in my life and yours to run smoothly. If I don’t do my laundry, if I don’t bathe regularly there are consequences for those actions (or inactions).

I refuse to live in a world ruled by scarcity, lack and poverty. This is an attitude. A decision I get to make about how I view the world. The nature of the decision allows me to see the world in a particular light. If my attitude were different I would see the world in a different light. And sometimes the world serves me a challenge to my attitude. This is part of the reality check, part of the test to see if my attitude is real or just something I change like my socks.

So how are we going to balance being positive and realistic? Because sometime the reality is that there is more month than money and that problem can get pretty old pretty fast. Sometimes the reality is that my health is not as vibrant or as optimum as I would like it to be. Sometimes it looks like life is blowing a big raspberry my way. How can you possibly be positive in the face of the myriad of challenges lefe kicks up our way? Isn’t just a bit unrealistic?

We have a principle we teach at Relentless Martial Arts called indomitable spirit. Basically it means to face your fear and move ahead. It means that I can lose the battle and continue to fight the war. That I may be down but I am not out. It means that I am measured not by how often I get knocked down but by how often I get up. It means that the only person who can determine my fate is me. And my fate is controlled by my attitude.

When faced with uncertain circumstances or, worse yet, a really bad situation that appears to be beyond my control how can I possibly control my attitude? Why not just go back to bed, give up and call it a day. Or, just as bad, walk through life beaten and defeated waiting for death to take me out of my misery? Why even bother to have a positive attitude, to try and find the “silver lining” in those bad situations. It is so much easier to just give up and wallow in your own mediocrity and pity.
Really? You were brought to life to be beaten? You were placed in this life to be the whipping child for all the bad situations that could occur? Do you really believe that? How is it that you got picked? Just dumb luck…after if it wasn’t for bad luck you wouldn’t have any luck at all, right?

You are child of the divine. You were put here to inspire, to create, to become something great. You are here to be the highest and best you can be. Start believing that. Start saying that to yourself. Start looking in the mirror and telling yourself;” I am a child of the divine and the divine does not make mistakes. I can find the silver lining in every cloud. It is my attitude that will lift everyone around me.”

Once I believe that I can find the good in the bad, that I can create a positivity out of a negativity then I can go to work to do just that. I can look at the situation realistically and start creating solutions. I can start making decisions from a proactive place rather than a reactive place. I can formulate a plan from a place of positivity and prosperity and abundance using my highest and best faculties.

We all get down (yes, even me). We all feel from time to time the world is sitting on our shoulder and we are being crushed under the weight of it. That the odds are stacked against us and there is little or nothing we can do. The question is …”how long are you going to stay down?” How long are you going to wallow around in a swamp of self pity? You are going to get hit; you are going to get knocked down. We all do. It is part of the human condition. The question is whether or not you are going to keep moving forward, whether you are going to get back up and go again. Are you going to make a new plan or keep trying the same old one that hasn’t worked yet?

Too many people have decided to stay down, to give up the fight. Or to just plod along doing the bare minimum to get by and then kill themselves slowly with mind and body and soul numbing activities. Go ahead and make a decision to be different. Go ahead and look in the mirror and say something good to yourself about yourself. Then go out of the bathroom and say something nice to someone else. You will be glad you did.

Oh, and re-read the poem at the beginning of this note…there is no place for self pity in your life. It isn’t natural and it doesn’t serve you.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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