“I’d say nearly universally no one enjoys hardship. We’d like it easy, convenient and quick. Hardship is part of life. There is a duality in nature. There is big and small, one and many, hot and cold, in and out, easy and not. The law of polarity or reverse opposites. There is Inertia: a body at rest tends to stay at rest until acted on by a larger force AND a body in motion tends to stay in motion until acted on.

There’s the law of cause and effect. For every cause there is an effect and for every effect there is a cause. People search for causes all the time as a result. The point is there are things or events and circumstances that happen we don’t completely understand nor want. Earthquakes aren’t desired but they happen. We might know the cause but that provides little comfort. Things happen. They just do.

Like it or not. Hardship is a part of everything. It is immensely useful, but we don’t think so very often. Innovation and change come about as a result of discontent. We want something to be better. We want it warmer, cooler, more convenient, cheaper, easier, drier, wetter, closer so we innovate. We make changes. If we didn’t things would remain as they were. We change them through desire and ideas.

Start Livng The Best Life Ever!

We plan to do things differently and improve on the status quo. Sadly, humans, as bright as we are, aren’t very wise. We are slow to learn from history and repeat many mistakes. We don’t want to leave our comfort zones unless forced to. Warm, dry, party tends to describe much of life. Cheap, convenient and quick is what we’ve come to expect EXCEPT life isn’t always any of those but also the opposites.

Change comes at a cost. Sometimes financial. Sometimes we had to move across continents walking or horse drawn coaches. Some braved the elements and endured disease, pestilence, death, destruction and others who would prey upon them. Natural and human made disasters, oil spills, nuclear waste escapes take their toll. Hardship, if we can call it that, exists with pleasure and comfort. It’s duality.

Learn to welcome it and embrace it. All great thought leaders have pointed this out since they woke up to what is going on. Buddha said, ‘Life is suffering.’ He also said, ‘“Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.’  He stated, ‘People suffer because they are caught in their views. As soon as we release those views, we are free and we don’t suffer anymore.’ Pretty poignant.

Start Livng The Best Life Ever!

Lao Tau said, ‘If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is your own self-transformation.’ He also stated, ‘He who is attached to things will suffer much.’ Very to the point, don’t you think. We do it to ourselves by our thinking and attachments.

‘Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.’ said Hellen Keller. She knew a different life. She had a different beginning being born deaf and blind, but she became a well-known speaker and force for good. Kahlil Gibran said, ‘Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.’ Many triumph regardless of hardship. Get it?

Marcel Proust wrote, ‘We are healed of suffering only by experiencing it in full.’ That doesn’t mean we must feel and endure the pain or go back through all our dog shit in life. It means to not resist it when it is happening. What we resist, persists. What we focus on expands. We become what we think about. It means allowing and accepting and letting go even if we don’t understand it or know the cause.

Start Livng The Best Life Ever!

Napoleon Hill pointed out that we are to, ‘Welcome difficult challenges, for the greatest opportunities will come from challenges that force you to expand your mind as you search for creative solutions.’ He also repeatedly reminded us that within adversity was the equivalent seed of opportunity. That seed we must look for and find when adversity surrounds us. It’s up to us to find the opportunity that is there.

In our darkest hours is the possibility of great transformation. In our hardship and suffering is the potential to awaken to a new you and a new life. If we go down the rabbit hole of suffering and negativity, we most likely will miss it. On the other hand, if we release and let go, seek the positive and the good, manage our thoughts, feelings and attitude we can transcend whatever is going on.

Suffering is part of life. We suffer because of our thoughts and habits. We’re conditioned to suffer and accept it but not to like it, while growing up. It’s now a normal part of life, and we dislike it. BUT it is a part of life. Tennessee Williams said, ‘Don’t look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes, you’ll know you’re dead.’ And Aeschylus wrote, ‘Wisdom comes alone through suffering.’

Start Livng The Best Life Ever!

It’s not what happens but how we respond that makes everything different. Most people react out of conditioned habit. A knee-jerk reaction. Pavlov’s bell. Hardship happens and we hate it, complain about it, exaggerate it, and want to escape it. We wallow in it. We carry it around for a lifetime and repeat all the negative things about it to ourselves and others. We relive it. STOP. Let go and be different!

Instead of focusing on what’s wrong. That’s the habit. Shift your focus to find what’s good. Direct your attention elsewhere. Energy flows where attention goes. Release the negative energy and put it into positivity. Seek the silver-lining. Find the opportunity. You won’t unless you look for it. THEN also realize this IS an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to move, to leave the comfort zone. It’s shaking you up.

Yes, you must adjust and continue on. There are lessons to learn. Discoveries to be made. Innovation to be made. Many people look back and state that if it hadn’t been for some great hardship, suffering or loss they would not be the happy, successful people they are today. Steve Jobs said you can connect the dots looking backwards but not forwards. That is a big key to all. Someday you will look back.

Start Livng The Best Life Ever!

If you’re going to look back and feel differently about bad events, why not feel differently now? Learn to shift your energy and attention. Reframe the situation. Assign a different meaning and feelings to it. Speak and think about it differently. Speak only to bless, edify, heal, inspire, proper and transform as I like to say. When you think forward expect the best and you tend to create the best. Attitude matters!

How you do one thing is how you do everything. Goddard elegantly said, live from the feeling of the wish fulfilled to create the life you want. YET, that is what most people are doing now to create the life they don’t want. If you worry, fear, hate, regret, wallow, doubt and more you tend to bring about what you think about. Think on the good, the pure, the loving, the kind, the peaceful and bring that about. As I always say, if you consider it a problem, it’s a problem. If you consider it a blessing, it’s a blessing. Get your attitude and beliefs working for you instead of against you. Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes

 

STOP SUFFERING: HERE’S THE SOLUTION! GET THE ATTITUDE ACTIVATOR™ TO DEVELOP THE POSITIVE MINDSET AND BELIEFS TO ATTRACT AND LIVE THE GOOD LIFE YOU DESIRE!   —   Get the Attitude Activator™ TODAY and transform your life!