Have you every tried to catch a fish with your bare hands?
I don’t recommend it.
It’s as difficult as trying to bob for apples in a bucket of water.
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It’s crazy how slippery they are.
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There have been times in my life when I thought Joy and Happiness were just a slippery as the fish in my aquarium.
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We all go through those times in life when everything seems to be going incredible great. We feel that we’ve reached the pinnacle of life.
Nothing can ever knock us down again.
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Then… well – things happen.
We end up battered or on the ground.
Feeling sad.
Feeling mad.
Feeling loss.
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It’s as though our happiness never existed.
The joy is gone from our hearts and the laughter is replaced with tears and sadness.
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Although it’s normal to go through ups and downs in life, there are things we can do to manage through the downs more efficiently and with more strength.
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Here are a few tips.
1) Attitude Matters
Here’s the thing. It’s possible for two people to face a very similar challenging situation. For example – a divorce or breakup. One of those two people will live through the experience and rise victoriously on the other side. The other will allow the situation to ruin her life. She will never feel worthy of love again.
What is it that makes the difference?
It’s the attitude we breathe in and the gratitude we breathe out.
Truth is – life happens for all of us.
We all go through painful situations.
We all suffer loss.
We all have disappointments.
Some people ask: Why me?
Others ask: Why not me?
When we ask Why not me? We recognize that valleys are common in life.
Everyone goes through them.
They are climbupable. (yes – that’s a tweetable new word)
How do you get to that place of power?
Ask yourself this one question:
For what can I be grateful in this situation.
No matter how small – Find something for which you can give thanks.
Giving thanks is not only a power position. It also influences the blood levels in your brain and influences which parts of your brain respond to your situation?
You want the power solution-oriented centers of your brain to respond not the panic victim centers. Your attitude controls how your brain respond.
Your Attitude Matters!
2) Your Thoughts Matter
We’ve focus a lot of our discussion here in Inspirational Leading on learning to control our thoughts so they don’t control us.
We’ve learned that our thoughts control our emotions.
Our emotions control our actions.
Our actions control our lives.
We talk about how to focus our thoughts on the things we desire in life,
how to visualize our dreams,
and how to find our quiet inner being through meditation.
We’ve learned how to set promises for ourselves in order to reach our goals.
All these things are based on our ability to focus our thoughts.
Even our self-identity is based on what we allow ourselves to think.
When it comes to joy and happiness, our thoughts play a huge part of our success.
The people who are the happiest are not the ones who have every gift available to them.
They are the ones who can control their thoughts and perspective even in the most scary circumstances.
What you think about determines whether you will be joy-filled and happy.
Joy and happiness have nothing to do with your circumstances.
They have everything to do with how you think about those circumstances.
Your Thoughts Matter!
3) Your Forgiveness Matters
Forgiveness gets a bad rap.
For many years thought that forgiving those who hurt me meant that I justified and accepted what they did to me.
I thought it let those people off the hook.
I thought forgiveness meant that they get to go free.
I was wrong.
Forgiveness means non of those things.
It wasn’t until I figured out that I was wrong, that I was able to begin to forgive.
It was when I learned to forgive that I found my freedom.
It was learning to forgive that taught me how to have joy and happiness in any circumstances of my life.
What is forgiveness?
Dear Friends – Forgiveness is a gift.
It’s a gift that enables you to take the person off of your own hook.
To release him/her to a power that is far beyond you.
Forgiveness takes the burden of revenge and justice off of your shoulders and puts it on the shoulders of the one who runs this universe.
Forgiveness is a process.
Forgiveness is a release.
Forgiveness is a gift.
Without forgiveness – joy and happiness will remain as slippery as a fish until the day you die.
Your Forgiveness Matters!
Are Joy and Happiness slippery as a fish?
They can be.
They don’t have to be.
You Attitude Matters.
Your Thoughts Matter
Your Forgiveness Matters
Create your joy and your happiness. It’s your choice.
Always remember:
Be Inspired! Be Inspirational! Be a Leader!
You’re changing someone’s life simply by being you.
See you in the comments!
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