It seems that so many times we have some sort of inability to deal with whatever it is that life is trying to hand us. We feel out of control. When we practice yoga and/or meditation we begin to see that we may not be in control, but we are certainly in control to our reactions.

Life is full of uncertainty. We have no control over many things in life. What we do have control over is our reaction to those things. We can let them dominate our thoughts and control how we deal with life or we can use them as motivation for whatever it is we want.

What do you do when life gives you a hard time?

Namaste!

The store had Christmas music on and it seemed louder than normal. I wondered if they were trying to put everyone in the mood. It wasn’t working; except for one person.

Coming down the aisle toward me was a woman who had to be in her eighties. I have no way or really knowing, but she was dressed as if she still lived in the forties. Her hat, straight out of a Marlene Dietrich movie, was tilted at a jaunty angle.

The music playing was a lively tune. I really can’t remember as this woman took all thoughts of things other than her out of my head. I think it might have been “Here Comes Santa Clause”.

Anyway, this woman comes down the aisle and she is dancing as she pushes her cart. Now don’t think she was crazy or something, she was dancing out of pure joy. She looked at me and smiled and any grumpiness I had in me left. She was the picture of Christmas cheer. I think she was an angel sent to cheer all us shoppers up!

Look for your angel in this holiday season. I’m sure you have one, but you have to look and you have to recognize them when they show up.

Namaste!

One of my Principles is that hardships happen, but I always have a choice. Sometimes it may seem as if the choice isn’t there, but it is. If nothing else, you can choose how you will react and think about any circumstance that comes into your life.

Let’s say that you are barely making it financially and the car just broke down. You can pay for the repairs, but it will leave you really short and there may be bills that don’t get paid on time. Now, I don’t know your situation, but I would guess that there isn’t much you can do to immediately increase your income. The money flowing in is pretty much static. Let’s look at the choices.

You can get down and let your thinking go in the direction of “poor me.” You begin to think that there is no way out, that your life is going down the tubes and you will probably have to walk the fifteen miles to work, your kids will have to give up their school activities, your house will be repossessed and your mate will leave you; this all in the same day! Your thinking just gets lower and lower and soon you can hardly move you are so depressed.

Or, you can decide that this is not going to get you down. You will look at your bills and see where you might shuffle things around. You can see if there is any overtime you might work to bring in some extra cash. You talk to your mechanic and see if he can let you make payments. If none of those things come about, you can just decide that this will not beat you, those things that your mind wanted to say would happen won’t happen and you will live through this.

Part of making the change to a better life is taking responsibility for your life and making choices that move you forward. If you want a more prosperous, successful life, you must look for it, you must attract it into your life. The law of attraction says that what you think about, you attract. If you think all those horrid things are going to happen, they start to become true. If you think that things will work out somehow, they start working out. It is as simple as that!

The next time life slaps you in the face, instead of crying in your beer, or milk for those who are health conscious, choose to look for the answers. Let the situation be motivational for you to change instead of tearing you down. Choose to look at how you can make things better and how you can learn from the situation. What does it have to tech you about yourself and the world around you. Your life will only improve when you decide that it will. Until then, you are at the mercy of the situation!

Steve

A Common Path