One of my favorite song lyrics by Bob Marley. It is so true. Our minds are one of the only things we can execute total control over. Notice, I did say can. The mind can be an obeying servant, or it can be a master with no mercy. Many of us live life at the whim of our emotions and outside circumstances. If I were to ask you when you woke up if you were going to have a good day, what would you answer? Most of us would give the answer “We will have to wait and see.” Meaning our day, and so our lives, are determined by other people events and circumstances.
I will be the first to admit that it is easier to smile on a beach than in a snow storm. The truth is that we still have control over our minds in both. Finding the beauty in the world around us and living in a state of gratitude will allow us to determine to live a great life. It is possible to wake up determined to have a good day and not let the outside circumstances determine the quality of our life. With that in mind, I will leave you with this quote from Martha Washington that I think sums it up quite nicely.
Have you ever been in a situation where you seem like you just can’t take any more? We all have. You are hoping for that miracle. It could be to land that job, to win the affection of that certain someone. It might be you are wishing for a miracle healing for yourself, or a loved one. Then, the job goes to someone else. The person you like ends up having feelings for the other gender. The doctor report comes back with more bad news. It can leave you with a feeling of hopelessness. You may find yourself asking questions like, “Why me?” You have been an upstanding individual. You have been treating everyone with kindness. Why is life so difficult for you. In some cases, you may even look at the good fortune of those who you feel may not be as enlightened as yourself and wonder how fair the universe is really being.
Sometimes we are delivered from the fires of life. That is easy to recognize as a miracle. When things go how we want them to, and when we want them to, it is indeed a miracle. If things always happened this way, we would have a life of ease. This may sound like quite the miracle, but it would make us one weak person. When we feel like instead of being delivered from the fire, we are being thrown in it, we might just being fireproofed. It is rarely fun, but resistance builds strength. This is as true in life as it is in the gym. When we go through the fires of life, we are being forged into a stronger and more resilient version of ourselves.
In life, we all want the quick miracle, the quick fix. We want the job. We want the love and the healing. When we don’t get it, we cease to believe in miracles. Worse yet, many of us begin to view the world as a cruel place. This can be very dangerous. Albert Einstein, one of the smartest people to exist, was asked what the most important question to ask was. His answer? “Is the Universe a friendly place?” The reason this is so important is because it will dictate our attitude and actions towards living our life. Shakespeare, a rather brilliant writer, also weighed in on the subject saying, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” In other words, it is more about how we look at the situation than the fact themselves that determine if it is good or bad.
What kind of day are you going to have today? About 90% of people will answer that question with “I don’t know” or some form there of. After all, how do we know if the alarm will go off at the right time? How traffic will be on the way to work? What mood the boss will be in? Simple answer, we don’t. Then why, day after day to we give the power over to situations? To often we let circumstances beyond our control dictate how we will feel about our day and to some extent ourselves. When you stop and think about it, that really is a foolish idea. So what to do? Stop ‘waking up in neutral’! At night when you go to sleep say to yourself, or even better out loud “Tomorrow will be a great day” if anyone asks you why, be honest. Say “I don’t know, it just will”. Then when you wake up repeat that statement. Repeat it as often as you can throughout the day, but especially early in the day. You make the decision how your day is going to go. Don’t leave it up to others, especially those who may not know or even care how your day goes. It may surprise you how effective this will be. Like anything else it may take a while to get used to, but stick with it. Take back control of your life! Then when the inevitable challenges do arise, you will know that even though the situation may not be exactly to your liking it will still be a good day. This often separates the happy from the unhappy. Don’t believe me? I’ll leave you with this quote from a former first lady.
“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances”
-Martha Washington
So let’s get out there and make it an amazing day!
SECRET 2 AN AMAZING LIFE 