I read an appropriate quote from Jay Sheddy today
“It is not about being happy in life when you run into a storm, it is about finding meaning and purpose.” and
Paulo Coelho on Twitter: “Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path” / Twitter. Aug 16, 2018
I believe sometimes we get stuck in life and maybe even a little scared because we put so much pressure on ourselves to figure it all out. Why is this happening to us? When we should be asking ourselves what is the meaning and purpose behind the storm. What is the universe trying to tell us?
In life we all will have ups and downs and it is all about how we react to these life situations that reveal our character. It will not always be roses and daisies. Perspective supports us to get through these challenging times. As we mature, we will learn how strong we are.
Sometimes we need a disruption in our pattern. As creatures of habit, we tend to stay in our same patterns and routines. Even if they no longer serve us, we are apt to continue doing them because they are known to us. They are safe.
For me, when a storm would come into my life, I would fight it. I didn’t like what was happening and I wanted it to stop. I wanted things to go back to how they had been. But as I started to look back at pivotal points in my life, I realized that my greatest growth happened after the storm. It forces us and we have our past to support us to know how to get through these times.
An example from my life was when I found out I had chronic kidney disease that was at stage 5 which is the end stage of kidney disease. I thought and acted like it was the end of the work because I ASSUMED that I would not have quality of life. Boy, was I mistaken in some ways my life is much better now than before.
I was working in physical therapy in the western world in corporate settings and felt like a fish out of water. I am more of the thought of blending western and eastern medicine. I remember a day when I was walking down the hall at the nursing home doing my physical therapy gig and a nurse said to me” You look like you are trying to fit in here when you do not seem like it is not the real you.” Or something to the tune. She was reading me correctly. I was not happy in that setting due to the corporate world of western medicine.
Many times, in life, it takes an event that shakes us up to have us realize where we are and where we want to be. These situations make us reflect and if you are ready to acknowledge your gifts and talents it may reveal your life’s purpose. Others of us will go into survival mode and wish life will go back to how it once was. Drama coming from? Can you see the forest through the trees?
When a storm comes into our life, it is unpredictable and unexpected. Our natural reaction is to fight it. A storm demands something from us. It demands that we make changes, learn, grow and make progress that we wouldn’t ordinarily do. We no longer have the luxury of staying on our original, known course.
Some of these situations will feel very personal and if you take a step back and look at the entire circumstance you may notice that it is companywide or society wide. It is just not happening to you alone. If you have been through a lay off at your place of employment or have been through the pandemic that we had worldwide called covid 19 you may see you are not alone.
When you find yourself in an uncomfortable storm that arises remember to use all the skills you have learned along the way with your talents, gifts and emotional strengths. Can you list some of those now? Journal on your gifts and strengths. Then document your emotional character and some of your tools and exercises you have utilized in the past.
These are the times you may find yourself going into depression or anxiety and survival mode. If you get depressed that is about the past and if you become anxious you are in the future. Survival mode makes one contract. Actually, at times of the storm one should be open to the possibilities.
When I find myself in a storm these are the times to be in ritual and have a schedule. This will help to ground you. Getting enough sunshine, eating healthy, exercising, getting a good night rest and meditation will support you to be a victor during these challenging times. When we overeat, be a couch potato, not keep a schedule, and sit around and worry we only make it worse on ourselves. What keeps you motivated?
Journal on this thought. What motivates you? What are your gifts and talents? What do people come to you for?
Remember what Jay Sheddy said “It is about finding meaning and purpose.” What supports me is thinking what would so and so do? I am speaking about my mentors or someone I look up to. Remind yourself about a time that you felt you were in a storm. What coping skills worked in your favor and what did not work at all. Be in research or experimentation mode. I sit back and evaluate the situation I am currently facing and how I felt in other times.
Clearing the path to success: After the storm
- Experiment and research as you move forward
- Move forward with intention
- Establish organization.
- Search for root causes of the storm.
- “Start with establishing a goal in mind with a plan of action
- Demand clarity. Few things are more powerful.
- Seek support from others as needed.
Storms make a mess. Their winds pick things up and displace them, and after a storm we must rebuild to restore how things are. We can think of this as an opportunity with possibilities instead of restoring to the previous state, we can build from anew what we wanted all along. In thinking that way, we can create the life and circumstances that we desire in our life.
Obviously, the storm is just a metaphor for trauma in your life. But, by flipping the script, you can weather the storm and see the next steps as an opportunity to build. Shifting the intent of the storm, and the reason it was introduced in your life, allows you to have more of an open-mind about the purpose the storm is actually serving. “Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path. “This storm does not do any harm to our lives, but it makes sure that you are able to start your life in a fresh way, all over again.
© Source: https://www.quotespedia.org/authors/a/anonymous/not-all-storms-come-to-disrupt-your-life-some-come-to-clear-your-path-anonymous/
In our efforts to become more successful we have all heard we must work smarter not harder. Many believe to get ahead we must find the most efficient way to leverage our time and energy most effectively. A popular direction of late is to follow the path of least resistance to achieve our success. When we resist something, it persists theory.
Where is this path of least resistance that people speak of? Have the signs been knocked down? Has the path grown over with weeds that make it unrecognizable? There can be a lot of adversity and uncertainty in today’s world that creates a great deal of resistance. We may not be able to find the path that existed for another. However, we have it within us all to create a path.
The best path and often the one with the least resistance is the one we create. Create or Continue a “Can Do” attitude. Those that have more experience with success seem to have a “Can Do” approach to their life. It most likely was not always the case. Oftentimes it came about because of extreme adversity; it became the only option. Typically, what lies underneath this attitude is a relentless willingness to keep going no matter what. Perhaps a better name for this attitude should be – “Can do it eventually if I don’t give up” attitude.
Success comes in CAN not CANNOT
Be present of where we persevered and overcame adversity to achieve what we desired. There is evidence if we look for it. Embrace the evidence. It is helpful to recognize we can learn, practice, and even borrow brilliance from others to get things done. Knowing we have overcome and can overcome again will lend itself to a “Can Do” attitude. It’s a conditioning process. Add to it every day. Give up, giving up.
Let go of who we think we’re not and any excuses we think hold us back. Both conditions of who we think we’re not and what we think is holding us back are a result of our thinking. Our thinking either contributes or contaminates our ability to succeed. Do not self-sabotage yourself.
Raise our vision and vibration for a compelling future to create its realization. People either have a horrific picture in their mind of how their future will not come about or an inspiring picture of how their future will unfold. The future we imagine will cause how we feel now. How we feel now drives our actions for the day. It’s the accumulation of our daily actions, over time, that delivers us to our intended and imagined future. It is important to choose the future vision that excites us, not the one that extinguishes us.
Act accordingly. In order to achieve a goal, we must fulfill various plan of action. In order to complete those goals, we must execute various tasks and actions. The power of our vision will create moment by moment impulses that either empower or disempower our ability, capacity, and willingness to act in alignment with our elevated vision. As we take action, we need to act with deep knowing that the action is leading to the realization of the goals that will lead us to our vision.
Regenerate – Do it again, again, and again; each time bringing an increased capacity of new understanding, distinctions, and skills that will expand the ‘Can Do” attitude to let go of self-sabotaging thoughts, and continually elevate our vision to inspire our actions to clear the path to greater success.
One way to clear the path is to eliminate drama in your life. Where is the drama coming from? Can you see the forest through the trees?
For me, when a storm would come into my life, I would fight it. I didn’t like what was happening and I wanted it to stop. I wanted things to go back to how they had been. But as I started to look back at pivotal points in my life, I realized that my greatest growth happened after the storm. It forced me out of my comfort zone and insisted that I make change. It required me to level up. And I did.
So, what if we start looking at storms as having a purpose? What if they might even be our ally? What if they are here to create an environment for us to make the necessary changes and decisions we need to make?
For some these past 2 years with Covid 19, that was the storm. How did you react? Did you take it as a bleeding? Were you living in fear? R did you embrace it to cocoon and build a new reality of your creation?
