When you look for the good, you'll find more of it, and when you have that positive energy working, you'll learn your lessons quicker and with less difficulty. Why would you want to choose hard when easy is available?
Try this exercise:
Imagine three pieces of silverware held out before you.
A knife, a fork and a spoon.
Don't think, just choose one.
No fair grabbing two or more and if you can't decide, just pick the first one that pops into your mind.
You have your silverware. Good.
Here's what it means. This is a subconscious game to tell you how you currently create your lessons in life. The knife: Your lessons come hard. Aggressive. Life has to cause pain to get your attention.
The fork: Lessons come a bit easier, but still require effort. The spoon: Your lessons come without effort. That is, you don't ignore or fight what life brings you. You're aware, get the lesson, change and move on. It's spoon fed.
When you search for the good, the lesson in every situation, you'll find it without life having to beat you up to gain your attention. The longer we ignore our lessons and opportunities, the harder the universe tries to wake us up, the harder and more painful the lesson. But you have the power to change.
Choose easy. Optimists know this. Life is good. Everything works out. I'm grateful for what I have. Look for the opportunity. What opportunities are you working to ignore? What truth are you hiding from? Notice the use of opportunity over the word challenge? Start by thinking in positive terms.
At the end of each day, recount in your journal any difficulties and look for the good. Change your words. What opportunities or lessons did you encounter? What could you have done or what can you do differently? Implement what you learn.
I'm working on this too. It's life long, but I know it works.
Life is easy and it's all good.
Beautiful blog Sandy. You're right. It's something that we should always work on-being more positive and seeing the good amongst the bad. Sometimes, what we perceive as the worst possible thing can later be seen as a real positive. Thanks for reminding me! :)
ReplyDeleteYou know Sandy, I find that in life I can be all three - knife, fork or spoon - depending on the severity of the situation. So what does that make me? The realist?
ReplyDeleteDepending on my mood you might find me in the Optimistic role or some days (like today unfortunately) in the pessimistic role. But most days I walk that fine line, firmly planted in world of realism taking good and bad, learning the hard way and enjoying the easy way.
Great post!
Such a beautiful post, Sandy. I loved this. You should print up t-shirts at CafePress with the slogan - Choose the spoon. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting is that I often look for the good in the downer stories of others but rarely find - or even look - for the good in mine. It's odd, isn't it? I like happy people and want to be one of them. Thanks for the reminder that we have to work at this but that happiness is worth that work. Great post.
Awe man! I picked up the knife right away! Ain't that the truth?
ReplyDeleteFork here. Interesting experiment I intend to try at home on my unsuspecting victims...I mean family members. I think sometimes the fear of failure keeps us from seizing "opportunity."
ReplyDeleteLove these comments ladies. You rock! There are times in our lives when it's all knives, others when we see what's happening and choose spoons. Forks come and go. The more awake we are, the more spoons.
ReplyDeleteEasy is good and I choose easy.
I picked the fork! I guess that's not so bad, right? My sister is always telling me about Simple Abundance and the Attitude of Gratitude. Real stuff that one should definitely employ every day of one's life. Thanks for a thought-provoking post.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was the spoon, but then I stopped myself, thinking in real life when eating food, I alwasy pick the fork over a spoon. Based on my answer alone, I'd say I'm a fork. It could be easy, but then I over analyse.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, I'm a happy, positive person. I know I've got a good life and that I'm fortunate, but there are day's, especially when it's been a rough day at work, that I have to remind myself of all the good.
I grabbed for the fork. Of course, I could see the pattern more clearly than I could the utensil. Perhaps that says something big. Maybe I'm not paying enough attention to what goes on around me in life--or focusing on the wrong things. Thanks for this blog. As usual, very thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I'm glad they invented the spork. I choose the fork though. That sounds about right. I seem to enjoy making things a liiiitle more complicated than they need to be. Great blog post Sandy!
ReplyDeleteYeah! I picked the spoon. It seemed to most genuinely fit my hand. thanks for the post Sandy!
ReplyDelete