Tag Archives: facing challenges

22

The Challenges That Lead to Growth

Leave a comment

Everyone has challenges to face, allowing the ability for them to find a strength within. 

We are all looking for quiet moments in life. No matter what challenges life throws our way, we handle them effortlessly and efficiently. It’s nice when this happens, but there will be times when we suffer.

Challenges will arise, and these are not so nice to face sometimes. Through these challenges, people get the opportunity to grow, prosper, and evolve toward being the best version of themselves possible. The path of growth can be an uncomfortable journey to take. That is how life pushes you. Hurdles will force you to grow financially, personally, and even in relationships. This interaction is apparent in the natural world, as creatures small and large in the wild become more robust by facing difficult things in their lives. Changes happen as challenges arise, which forces us to improve the reactions and behaviors one decides upon. Those who meet the difficulties with resolve most often are not the ones who fade into mediocrity. Each person has the same opportunity for growth through this type of development, and the most significant gains in personal growth can come into your life. The choices and decisions are all up to you.

We Evolve Through Challenges

If there were no challenges in life, we would be looking at a much different landscape. There would be no need for growth, and things that are not growing are usually not around for very long. There has never been a time in the history of man where challenges didn’t arise. A potential invasion from a neighboring country, a plague, changes in markets, trade, drought, war, or many other things have presented unique challenges over the world’s history. Each time, the problems have been faced, met, and overcome. Problems lead to people reaching deeper and looking for new solutions that didn’t exist before.

Evolution is a natural growth pattern that grows out of necessity for change. It allows new inventions to come into being and new ways of thinking to be recognized and entertained. Challenges promote adaptation, evolution, growth, and just plain old learning. We must ask ourselves tough questions from each challenge to see what exists inside us. There can be a strength in all of us that we can tap into when facing challenges. This strength will allow you to keep trying and moving forward when all you want to do is a retreat from the difficulties encountered.

Relativity and Spirituality

Why are we here? That is the most profound spiritual question that most thinking people ponder at some point in life. What is the purpose of this experience? Are we here just to be born, go to school, work, and then die? Probably not. The challenges we face provide growth in life and a purpose for what we do. Overcoming an obstacle provides urgency to our lives and forces us to look within to find that inner strength. We may not conquer our challenges all at once, but if we are diligent, we will come out on top.

Challenges in life force us to look at our complete selves and find peace with that. Spiritually we look for a meaning behind it all, a force that guides us all. Some call it God, some the Universe, whatever you choose to call this force, challenges in life show us something bigger is there. What that is exactly is up to the individual to define for himself. Religion is what someone else tells you about this force. Spirituality is what you know and learn for yourself. At some point, we all choose how we view that power. Or want to ignore it altogether. To me, there are no wrong choices. Whatever helps you get through the day and evolve into your best self is perfect for you.

Finding Meaning

Being challenged allows us to look at life, grow, and find things in the world that matter to us. The alternative is to see no meaning, which seems to be a popular course for many people. People seek to find meaning in material things, providing temporary satisfaction. False satisfaction can be confused with fulfillment, but it doesn’t last long. Then you are looking for other material things to accumulate to gain that feeling again. Material obsession seems to challenge society as we collect ever-growing piles of things.

The challenge is okay, though, because eventually, the emptiness that remains after accumulating more and more stuff will lead to questioning how we can find fulfillment. Through these challenges, you will start to look for what things make you happy. What do you create? Who do you create it with? These mysteries will reveal a particular meaning to life that is unique to all of us. That is the power of the law of relativity. If you survive all the challenges, a better version of yourself is the result. We become a more pliable version of ourselves that might be reforged throughout our life experiences.

Challenges are a part of life, and they are here to allow us to become our best selves. They will reveal our strengths and weaknesses but will enable us to experience fast growth and understanding. They are overcoming the fear of losing yesterday to embrace a better today and the unknown of tomorrow.

“The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.” -Molière

“It is not in the still calm of life or the repose of a pacific station, those great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties.” -Abigail Adams.

“If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” -T.S. Eliot

 

21

A Struggle

Leave a comment

Struggle- make aggressive or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction.

Life will never be comfortable all the time. If it were, people would never develop the skills they need to give their talents to the world. The struggle exists in all facets of our lives, both personally and professionally. It is human nature to want to avoid these obstacles because it would be more comfortable without them. But easy is not always right, and it is important to be thankful for the struggles we face because all of them bring an opportunity to become a better version of ourselves. There is a choice for us to let the battle we face dictate the action of our lives or to let our lives dictate how we defeat the struggle. It begins with being conscious of your efforts and the opportunity they are providing to you. Our growth starts with the thoughts, words, and actions to overcome these barriers, grow, and develop.

Struggles of Our Minds

Some of the biggest struggles we face in life are the ones we create in our minds. These are thoughts that we choose to believe, which limit our confidence in creating or achieving something. When you look at something that you would like to accomplish or experience, your mind will immediately produce a list of why you can’t do it. Most of these causes exist due to our negative programming from life. Family members, teachers, peers, and society, in general, have been telling us what they would like us to do since we were born. When we listen to these messages, they create a severe obstacle, how to be ourselves and fit into what others believe we should be.

Don’t let your mind limit you and stop you from trying. You may fail at something, but that will not be the end of the world. It is easy to think that an obstacle is too much to handle. It may not be easy and a stretch, but that can be a positive thing. New talents and skills will arise in you as you work to overcome the difficulties you face. These skills are the opportunity, like a blade sharpened against a stone. You become a sharper and more efficient weapon in life. Where going through life unchallenged and comfortable will lead to atrophy and waste. Don’t let your mind tell you that you can’t or you surely won’t.

The Struggle is Real

One of the first things to do is to learn to trust yourself and understand that no matter how big the problem you face, you will find a way to overcome it. These challenges can be complex because we are all so afraid of failing or what others will think of us when we are not perfect. We need to put all of those limiting thoughts aside and start solving the problem at hand. Whatever you are facing, it has entered your life, providing a great opportunity. Please focus on the issue, make a list of proper action steps that you can take, and then start taking them.

There will always be naysayers who don’t believe in you, but when given your free reign, you will find out that you are well on your way to a better version of yourself. These are just obstacles to your personal growth and ultimate success. Many try for a bit but give up and never know what they might have accomplished or what vital lessons they might have learned if they had only persevered through the difficulties.

Beat the Struggle

Having a plan makes accomplishing anything more realistic, and this general plan is an excellent place to start for you. First, you have to set a goal about what you want to accomplish by overcoming the struggle of life. Second, set up a clear and concise step by a step action plan for you to follow. Third, make sure you take consistent action every day. The move is the key to understanding how theories work and using them to overcome our challenges. Without taking action, nothing can happen. Once a person decides to take action, there is no limit to creating and accomplishing it.

It is time for you to stop being ashamed of the struggles and challenges you face or have faced in your life. The battle to overcome outside influences is real and challenging. However, defeating the fight inside our private world of thought provides the valuable life experience people need to become successful. Embrace all of the struggles and see it for what it is, relevant learning experiences applied realistically to your life.

Take a moment every day to be conscious of the struggles you face through your thoughts, words, and actions. What we see in our problems, either limits or opportunities, will determine our mindset and potential for success.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”- Frederick Douglass

“Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.”- Napoleon Hill

 

 

21

Imperfection

Leave a comment

Imperfection– a fault, blemish, or undesirable feature.

imperfectionAll of us have to face facts at some point. We are not perfect.  Our lives are infected by personal shortcomings and weaknesses of all sorts, which cause us to make imperfect choices all the time.  These imperfections may be physical, spiritual, emotional, financial, or fall under any area of our experience and/or lives.  Despite these shortcomings, the secret to enjoying life is to explore and embrace each one of them fully. Personal growth can only come from understanding.  This understanding results from looking honestly at the things we don’t like, knowing why they happen and taking actions to improve them.  Increase your awareness of your perceived imperfections by looking at your thoughts, the resulting emotions, words, and actions you experience noticing your imperfections. You will find these imperfections can be a guide to personal growth and understanding of one’s outlook.

Don’t Hide from Imperfections.

For myself, I see weakness every day. Each day I am confronted with situations that either reveal or highlight some glitches in my personal makeup.  There are clear choices.

No need to hide from your weakness, embrace it.
No need to hide from your weakness. Embrace it.

Available to me when I experience these challenges.

The first one is to try to hide them from the world.  You can ignore them and move on with life like nothing ever happened.  This can be good for a day or perhaps a week or maybe even a month or a year, but ignoring something doesn’t make it not exist.

These not-so-powerful images of ourselves do not exist to make us feel bad. They are there to provide you with a road map for improvement.  Don’t hide from or ignore your personal “weaknesses”; learn to recognize, embrace them and grow from them.  We spend so much energy hiding our perceived problems from others, and the real problem becomes the hiding of the problem and worries about it, more than the problem itself.  Embrace your uniqueness and understand it makes you who you are. Unique.  It is through understanding that things change.

See the Path to Improvement

It can be a painful thing to see your weakness on display. When I see my anger, impatience, and negative attitude crop up, it can be a daunting task to face.  Who wants to admit that they are not perfect in everything they Imperfectiondo in a day?  But it is only by recognizing where we are weak that we can see the path we need to follow to be strong.

So if I am negative about something, there is a reason it is happening, and usually, it is a personal, teachable moment.  Yesterday I got angry several times because of the actions of others.  Not bad actions, just being human and worrying about their own needs above everyone else’s needs.  I am a firm believer that anger is an emotional warning sign that shows our concern that our needs might not be met or that we are in physical danger.

It seems my anger reveals my own concerns about the ending of something and the inevitable moving on.  I am ready to move on in most cases, but there are quite a few people and work situations that I have become quite fond of, and both consciously and subconsciously, it hurts to see that coming to an end. But knowing this allows you to say goodbye or maintain relationships comfortably and enjoyably for all people.

I have a fear of these relationships.  I am rational enough to know that moving on is the best thing for me and all of the people I care about. In fact, the end has to happen for me to grow, but it still does not come without difficulty.  Without realizing this, I may let the opportunity to tell some of these people exactly how much they have meant to me during this experience in my life. I could not have enjoyed it without them, and in fact, they are all part of the combined reason it was such a memorable experience.

Grow From Understanding Yourself

So there is really no other choice in life but to embrace the weakness that shows up in your day-to-day existence.  It may be initially difficult or uncomfortable to admit, but once you do, there is a wealth of information imperfectionthat can help to guide you on your path and lead you toward your dreams.

Dissecting your shortcomings allows you to view honestly where your work needs to be spent to live a higher quality of life.  This higher quality is going to allow you a better chance to reach your full potential.  All people have a tremendous potential to be great, but life’s pain and false beliefs often cover it up. Your weakness can provide you with the key to unlocking this great potential inside you. It simply needs to be dealt with.

It is also a fact that many times it is our imperfections that make us unique and interesting.  In some cases, your weakness will push you to overcome it, either to prove your worth to others or yourself, and these motivating factors are a part of understanding why we have weaknesses in the first place.

Change is Constant and Inevitable

Recognizing a weakness is a blessing because it allows you the opportunity to make changes and improve yourself in almost any way.  We know this will happen one way or another because no matter what you do, things are going to change.  Our imperfections are not a permanent handicap on enjoying and being happy in life, and they are simply a signpost of what needs work in our lives to make our existence a greater experience.

We are all imperfect beings in an imperfect world, trying to enjoy the ride of life.  You have the potential to be great, and embracing and working on your weaknesses will allow you to find success a whole lot quicker and to enjoy the experience of life along the way.  Often it is our “imperfections” that allow us to become our strongest selves.

It all begins with a greater awareness of the thoughts we have about our imperfections. Please don’t make it an indictment on you personally. Make it an opportunity to learn and become better, and the growth that results will allow a greater level of consciousness today.

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. Marilyn Monroe

“The fact of storytelling hints at fundamental human unease hints at human imperfection. Where there is perfection, there is no story to tell.”- Ben Okri

“There would be no need for love if perfection were possible. Love arises from our imperfection, from our being different and always in need of the forgiveness, encouragement and that missing half of ourselves that we are searching for, as the Greek myth tells us, to complete ourselves.”-Eugene Kennedy

 

21

My Growth

Leave a comment

One of the choices we have in life is to grow and become more every day we experience or not. In all situations, we are either getting better, or we are getting worse. Nobody ever stays the same.  Some may say, “why worry about growth? Just enjoy what you already have.”  That is true to some degree, but nothing is static. All things are constantly changing, and in many instances, we have a handle on moving in which direction you grow. I choose to pursue growth because it allows one to move toward something being a better human. Becoming your best self and provides a purpose for living. Without meaning, life becomes an empty exercise of activities, knowing something is missing. I want to have a purpose in every moment in life and continually seek to contribute to the world.

Don’t Fear Challenges.

I want to see challenges as an opportunity to become better, to learn, and to grow. So I want to embrace them and do my best to overcome them with strength, dignity, and courage. So many people avoid a challenge because it will be difficult or push them outside of their known talents and existence. But that is what life is about. You don’t have to travel far distances to experience new things and to grow. Challenges are the method life provides. So I want to embrace challenges with courage and understanding.

We do not know everything when we are born or at any stage of life. There are always new things to learn, and the challenges life sends your way are designed to allow greatness to come out of you.  Overcoming a new challenge is suitable for your self-esteem, confidence, and understanding of life and yourself.  Our number one purpose is to become our best selves.

Persistence Is Irreplaceable

Developing a stubborn persistence in the pursuit of things is another reason I prefer growth. When you have a weak mindset, it is straightforward to give up on a goal or a dream if the going gets too complicated. However, when obstacles come, don’t give up. Instead, keep working and develop a plan to get over, under, or around whatever is in your way. This talent is developed through choice, and it is one we will be working on for the entirety of our lives. All the great ones of history had this talent in their toolbox.

Once you decide to avoid difficulty and just quit, you have developed a habit that will stick with you until you learn to accept that not all things in life will come to you quickly. They take ongoing work and focus on overcoming.  When this talent is achieved, what can stand beyond your reach? Keep on trying, and eventually, the key will be yours to whatever door you seek to unlock.

Becoming Great

The effort you give to solve problems, overcome obstacles or meet challenges will determine your skill level at that thing. We are faced with different sorts of challenges every day. To do what we must exist in life, but digging deep inside ourselves to find the strength inside us will push us to keep working at the things we want to do.  Finding time to do something and to do it consistently will make you proficient at it. Seeking constant improvement is going to allow you to see the best that is going to happen.

The path to mastering anything comes with practice and repeated activity.  Keep working, try to become better, and improve. It is the same for learning how to draw or learning to tie your shoe. Practice until you become the best at it.  We are all capable of becoming great at almost anything with enough practice and work. One thing for sure without effort, you will not reach your best.

Learning from Criticism

It can be challenging to hear people be critical of you or your work. But there is an opportunity in that criticism to improve and become better. Some people criticize for no good reason, and others provide supportive, constructive criticism, which is meant to help you. Knowing the difference between the two is how you keep your mind calm, stay positive, and stay motivated. Look honestly at the work you have done and the person talking to you. Not everything is going to be great the first time you try it. However, development is essential, and that is growth.

Do not take critical things about things you create personally, the things you do may resonate with some people, but others are not going to appreciate it.  Expect it and know that it is not an indictment of you as a person. Still, they didn’t understand your work if the criticism is of a personal nature that is something different—probably caused by jealousy or attempted manipulation. How much faith you give will determine how much you are manipulated.  Don’t fear criticism; it isn’t worth it.

Find Inspiration from Others Success

That leads us to the success of others.  It can be hard to watch others reap the rewards, doing something you wanted to do yourself.  Jealousy will get you nowhere, but accepting and appreciating the talents of others can help you grow.  See what they have done and be positively critical to see what you might be able to differently or better.  Too many people waste time on envy or jealousy, and those two emotions will take you nowhere. Instead of working on yourself and your talents, you are sulking in the corner, wishing you were someone else.

Learn the lessons that someone else is teaching you through their success and use them as inspiration to move in the right direction.

“The journey is never-ending. There’s always going to be growth, improvement, adversity; you gotta take it all in and do what’s right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment.” – Antonio Brown.

 

21

Challenges

Leave a comment

What would your life look like if you were more positive in your thoughts?

challengesNo matter how confident and successful you are, life has a way of throwing challenges at you that will push you to make decisions redefining who you are and your substance.  In everyone’s life, there will be events that force a constant expression of this experience and force you to take actions that will bring growth in your life.

In the end, even after facing a challenge,  I like to think that we have found a more galvanized understanding of who we are, and we hold on to this self-image with a more critical and realistic passion. Sometimes the challenges are so overwhelming that it takes quite a bit of time to find your equilibrium and look at things with a more open mind and accepting heart.  Will you find positivity at the end of a challenge in life? Only you can tell that for yourself. I have always thought I would. But recently, my life has taught me many things from challenges. I have experience loss, betrayal, poor judgment and found a perspective of forgiveness and, hopefully, positive growth in all areas of my life because of it.

Being Positive, When the World is Negative

Even though I have spent a lot of time learning about the power of being positive, I know positive thoughts produce positive energy. I have, on positive_redcoccasion, slipped into being judgmental and critical of others for no reason other than because I was experiencing something negative. When you are experiencing fear of any kind and are afraid of your needs not met, this can happen.

Being positive becomes difficult when you look at life and the people in it as things that affect you, rather than seeing them as people who are just doing the best they can to survive day-to-day.  All people have weaknesses, and from time to time, they are annoying and rub you the wrong way.  One of the biggest challenges in life is accepting these negatives and still supporting and highlighting the positives of every individual in your life. The things that annoy us the most are the weaknesses we see in ourselves. We are maintaining a focus on love, understanding, acceptance, and kindness, which can be a challenge, and the reward in accepting others is a better view of ourselves.

It becomes challenging to do this when an atmosphere of negativity engulfs you, focusing on the negative features of things like judgment, sarcasm, and just being plain mean.  That is when you have to work a bit harder to find the positives.  The best way that I have found is to look for the things that are going right and not worry about what is wrong with the job, community, or each other. Especially each other. 

Find Time For You

No matter how busy you think you are or what others believe you should be doing, it would help if you found time dedicated to yourself.  Scheduling this can be a challenge, but vital to allowing person la growth. Rather than get all wrapped up in the daily chores, problems to be solved, and performance, find time for you. Don’t lose your focus on pure kindness and courtesy; people should show one another each day.

One of my favorite ways to maintain a more positive focus is to spend a little time each day learning something new and digesting that information productively and healthily. You are never too old to learn, and growth is a lifelong process.  Learning about yourself makes you less judgmental of others and keeps the focus where it belongs, on your thoughts and ideas. Those who don’t find growth are slowly dying. Finding time to think and put your experiences into perspective will allow your life to have a much more significant flavor. Life is continually trying to teach you lessons. Your reflection is their chance to sink in and make an impact.

Focus Your Energy

All experiences are going to change your life in one way or another.  People often choose to let most of what happens to them be negative and spend time trying to overcome whatever life has given them.

focus expandsI think there is a better way, and that is to remove the labels of good or bad that are associated with experiences and label them all “Experiences.”  Changing our perspective can be difficult when things are personal, but in reality, everything that happens is just an experience that brings something to our lives that we apply value to, good or bad.  We choose to smile and take what we can or to frown and feel overwhelmed by things happening to us. We have a choice.

The choices we make in each moment will determine the path of our day, and our days discover the way of our lives. There are many great things in life we all experience each day, from pleasant weather to a good cup of coffee. We need to notice and appreciate them.  Being grateful for the positives in life will always take the focus and power away from the negatives.

What if you decided to accept everything that happens to you as if you chose it? 

What you spend your time and effort focusing on in your life will increase.

“Keep your face to the sunshine, and you cannot see a shadow.” — Helen Keller.

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” — Willie Nelson.

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” — Lyndon B. Johnson.

“In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision.” 

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!!