...That Too Shall Pass

It never ceases to amaze me what can inspire a series of thoughts. The morning before I wrote this, the sky was overcast and pouring down rain. I watched as the drops hit my window and rolled down ever so nonchalantly. Going off appearances, I would have said we were in for a long rainy day. But as the hours rolled on, the rain slowly stopped and the clouds dispersed.
 
By 1pm the sun was shining brightly and the sky was literally clear blue. I couldn’t spot a single cloud anywhere. That drastic weather change made me think about life and that old cliche of, Weathering the Storm.
 
We all have our share of “bad-weather”. When things just seem out of our control and even unfair. Many people feel like a victim the worse things get. As if some unseen hand is tormenting them – making what they touch turn to ashes. It’s an absolute feeling of POWERLESSNESS. No matter what we do to make things better, the effort just seems futile.
 
But just like the rain storm I described, all of that “bad weather” could be gone in a short amount of time. Things can take a turn for the better and next thing you know, you’re riding in the seat of positive momentum. The rain stops, the clouds dissipate and the sun shines in its full glory.
 
Around this time last year things for me were rough and slowly getting worse. I survived just fine, but not without some very careful navigation. I made a number of sacrifices with only the hope of a beneficial return. I was operating in the unknown – trying to bring order out of chaos.
 
I never blamed anyone else for my circumstances, I just kept in motion. I kept moving toward things that would put me in a better position. Without trying to sound preachy, I just KNEW that EVENTUALLY the rain would pass. And it did. Things didn’t get better many months but all my efforts started paying off. In some ways, I’m in a BETTER position now than I was over a year ago when things slid downhill.
 
For those of you that take the time to read my blog and my books you know I constantly say that, “Life is a series of problems that must be solved,” and we all have our share of problems. Some serious, some minor but none-the-less, still problems. Life continues to throw them at us for our entire stay here in this world.

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I advocate self-empowerment but that doesn’t mean my life is perfect. The reason I teach a lot of what I do is because I’ve been in situations where I had to make use of what I knew. If it DIDN’T work, I found out quickly. If it DID work, it didn’t take long to discover that either.
 
Yes I study, I read, I sit and contemplate on life’s grander meaning (at least my life), but at the end of the day I do analyze the results of my actions and take responsibility for the outcomes. Whether good or bad.
 
I think on some level we’re all are very quick to covet the good. When we succeed at something, we immediately claim it. It fills us with sensations of pride and accomplishment. It just feels damn good to say, “Yes! I did that!” But, every coin has 2-sides. While we ALL claim the good, FEWER of us claim the bad. When we make a mistake, we don’t always own up to it. When we make a terrible decision, we’re not so quick to state it. When we destroy something fragile, like a relationship, we don’t go around telling our friends about it. We’re either ashamed or running from the truth. And part of that truth is, we’re not as perfect as we would like to believe. We don’t always have it all together. In fact I would go so far to say that we screw up MORE than we don’t. It’s the human way.
 
To reach a level of self-empowerment (and I do mean a state where you actually feel powerful) you have to do a few things:
(1) Own both your successes AND failures;
(2) You have to accept all your strengths and all your weaknesses – the good, the bad and the ugly;
(3) Not only that but you also have to make peace with them too;
(4) After that, you have to work on your weaknesses because you can only be as POWERFUL as your weaknesses.
 
Weaknesses are your limits because you can’t OUT PERFORM them. Don’t take my word for it. Try to get someone frightened by public speaking to give a speech in front of 5 strangers. If you can even get them to try, watch how poorly they perform.
 
Many of our weaknesses are rooted in our FEARS. And most fears only exists as imaginary movies we play in out in our minds. Many times, they’re not based in reality. So “bad weather” in your life is only as bad as you make it – it’s only as bad as you PERCEIVE it to be. It will eventually pass. Why not get an umbrella to weather the storm and prepare for the sunshine to follow?

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