Look at your life and the things occurring and try to put all things into one of two categories, 1. Things that happen to me, and 2. Things I made happen.  Everything in your life will be able to fit into one of these two places.  From how your relationships are going to the level of performance you are providing at your job to the satisfaction you gain through your daily experiences.  As you check off the things you experience during your day and place them in a category, start to be mindful of where all things in your life stem from.

There are three types of people in the world. One makes things happen. One watches things happen. The third doesn’t have any awareness that anything is happening.  Whatever you do, don’t be in the third group. When you analyze everything in your life activities, it is easy to put most of the events in your lives into the category of things that happen to you.  When I think all things can be put into the category of things I made happen.  Wait a minute. Bad things happen all the time. Do you think I created those? That is the purpose of this little writing to investigate whether we are the programmer of our lives and who are we letting write our programs for us.  I am encouraging us to write our own programs or be aware we have the capabilities to create our life programs. That is a powerful thing and lays all the responsibility for your existence solidly at your own feet. Are you willing to accept that?

Programming is a Long Game

When you think of where you are right now in your life, don’t just look at the situation you are in monetarily, relationships, career, health, or level of happiness and contentment.  Follow the genesis of those situations backward and see where they take you.  Often, health issues, for example, result from choices we made a long time ago.  Some people eat an unhealthy diet or participate in unhealthy activities for years, and then when a disease develops because of those choices long ago, they look at it as unfair. Yet, a person who chooses to smoke or drink shouldn’t be surprised when required to reap the repercussions of those choices.  When we are young, our choices are still our responsibility, and we will pay just as heavily when the mortgage comes due 30 years from that choice, like a deal with the devil.

Let’s focus on how we can be proactive in our choices today.  You are faced with situations today, and you have the ability to write the script for how you are going to deal with these things.  You choose your attitude, actions, and thoughts about everything in your life. Losing a job can be harmful at first but can propel you into a more satisfying and rewarding career you would never have pursued before.  A relationship ending that seems devastating can lead to a better fit with someone else you would never have been able to pursue before.  So before you assign something positive or negative, give it some perspective and time.

Someone Else’s Choices

One of the difficult things I have faced is the death of someone close to me. How could that possibly be positive? Someone’s death isn’t something we can control in our story because a person’s life is under their power and their choices.  Death is a part of life’s cycle, and we will all die at some point. We can make choices to enjoy everyone in our life and the light they bring while we can because you never know when it will end.  We are not responsible for another person’s choices. We are responsible for our reaction to them. If someone doesn’t want to spend time with you anymore, that is their choice. It can be devastating, but it is your choice to wallow in the sea of regret or to swim forward and find people who relish your company.

Look at your program and tailor that to fit the goals and desires you have in your heart. To have the courage to look at life, not as something that happens to us but as something we continually create, is the greatest challenge we face.  We develop mental ideas of what our life can be and what it means.  There are scripts we allow ourselves to follow and think are the “right” way to move, think, and act. But what if we are the writers of those scripts, and we can change them at any moment? Have you tried to rewrite your script and see what happens?

Responsibility for Our Story

Looking at your story, you have a simple choice from this day forward, be the author of your tale or be the actor in a play of someone else’s creation.  One way, you can blame everyone else for the things that happen to you, and in the other, you can take control and try to move your life toward your goals and dreams.  The first thing to develop is an awareness of what you want in life.  This is much more difficult than it seems because things we want will often take real change and movement, and to gain things, we have to lose some things we value.

Each scene change requires you to leave the previous scene behind you and move forward toward the new action you undertake. You are put here to dance to each new song you sing and dance.  It is our attachments to things that stop us from developing. You can love your childhood, but at some point, you have to put the childish things behind you to move on to accomplish things of more depth and meaning.  The same is true for each step of our lives, and it is our responsibility to seek the things in our hearts and be willing to leave behind the things of our today for the things needed for our tomorrow. We are responsible for moving forward, backward, or stagnating our life.

Write a Masterpiece

If you accept the responsibility of writing your own story, create a masterpiece, and make your life a one-of-a-kind adventure full of accomplishments, love, and new experiences. Each chapter of your book may be different and take you in a new direction, but if you never turn the page, you will never move on and experience the things in the next chapter waiting for you. Each moment you have the ability to seek and find the adventure waiting for you.  Sometimes it is safer to stay than move forward, but forward is the direction of growth and the inevitable life path.  What is around the corner? Good or bad? The only way to find out is to go around it.

When you choose to go forward and accept what experiences come your way, the programs you write will bring the things you want to come to you. If you want something, the Universe will work to bring it around for you, and who is to say the best way for that to come to you?  You may have challenges developing your skills and talents to the point they can be used to create your ultimate masterpiece.  Deep thoughts and grand ideas are not created by swimming in a calm pool. They are the children of the tumult and rough seas of life.  It is difficult to remember this sometimes when tossed about by the storm, but if you keep your head and reflect, you will see the value you have in thought and action came directly from the pain you have felt and the challenges you have faced.  Have faith in yourself and life. You will get in the end exactly what you have been programming into your life.

“Potential is not an endpoint but a capacity to grow and learn.”

“Your daily behavior reveals your deepest beliefs.”— Robin Sharma

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”― Thomas A. Edison

“Don’t mistake activity with achievement.”― John Wooden

“Where victims see adversity, extreme achievers see opportunity.” — Robin Sharma