Rising Above Life’s Challenges
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Life has a way of challenging our inner strength. It’s not that life is bad or good; life is what you make of it.
Have you ever been around someone who blames others for their mishaps? Have you seen people who negative thoughts about life? How many times have seen someone angry, frustrated, or bitter about things out of their control?
Today let’s go for a ride to see how we can rise above life’s challenges. There are 2 simple steps to rising above life’s challenges. Are you ready? Let’s go!
Step #1 - Control Your Mind
When you look at some of the most influential people in our world, most of them learned this step long before they were able lead anyone else. I’m not pushing for you to lead anyone else, but I am pushing for you to lead yourself.
If you are going to rise above the challenges in your life, you first must learn how to control your mind. Controlling your mind has a lot to do with your ability to quiet your mind. A loud mind doesn’t have time to think, reflect, or visualize success. Everyday there has to be a set amount of time in your day for you to quiet your mind.
I know what you may be thinking, but “I don’t have the time.”
Every person on this Earth has the same amount of time. I know we have different responsibilities, but we have the same amount of time. From research & experience, I have discovered we will make time to do those things that matter most to us. So the question is, how important is it for you to control your mind? If you’re not controlling your mind, you’re giving someone else permission to control it.
When you are in total control of your mind, you won’t let the small things bother you. In passing, I hear people complaining about small things everyday such as the weather, politics, money, clothes, etc. I‘m not saying these things aren’t important, but let’s think a little deeper.
What are the most important things in your life?
In my life, the most important thing has nothing to do with any materialistic possession. It’s not my car, house, etc. The things that matter most to me are God, family, and people. There may some exceptions, but for the most part anything else outside of those three things doesn’t mean much. Yes, I believe having money is important, but it is not greater than the God I serve. Yes, I believe having a great paying job is important, but it is not more important than my family. Yes, I believe advancing in life is important, but it is not important enough to affect the relationships I love to develop with the people from all walks of life God has allowed to enter my life.
So, what I’m saying is, know your priorities and those things that matter most. Those things will help you control your mind and will eventually cause you to rise above the many challenges in your life.
Step #2 - Rid Yourself of Negativity
My mother taught me, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it at all.” She raised me with that philosophy for several reasons, but I believe the primary reason was to protect or control my mind. Her and my father was great about teaching us life-long lessons.
How do you protect your mind?
To protect your mind, you have to get rid of those things that may hold you back. Right?
If you know something or someone is keeping your dreams from coming to a reality, why not get rid of it? How valuable is your dream? If your dream were able to become reality, how many people would be positively affected by it? How important is your dream? If your dream has any value, get rid of any form of negativity that could possibly kill it.
Sometimes the very thing that kills our dreams lies within us. This why my mother said, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it at all.” There are two important reasons:
Reason #1
When you speak negative talk, no one else with any positive energy will want to be around your negativity. Those who are positive have learned positive energy comes from positive reinforcement, not negative reinforcement (Thanks B.F. Skinner for your countless hours of research and experimentation.). What happens if you yell at a child? The child does two things: 1) Either he or she fights back or 2) He or she runs away, ignores, or secludes themselves.
We aren’t that much different from children, we are just bigger and little more complicated because of life’s experiences. Stop making people fight you. And, don’t run anyone out of your life. We all need companions and the very person you may fight or run out of your life, may be the person you will need to help you rise above your life’s challenges.
Reason #2
When we speak negatively, we have already thought of the negativity twice.
What do I mean? Before you speak a negative word, your first think and then you speak it. We discussed earlier, negative reinforcement leads to further negative experiences. You don’t have the privilege of running away from yourself, but you will fight yourself.
You have seen this picture before. Matter fact, we all have been here at some point and may experience these emotions again because no one is perfect. But, we must do everything in power to get rid of these emotions of fear, anger, low self-esteem, lonely, ashamed, arrogance, perfectionist, impatient, hopeless, discouraged, judgmental, and there are many more.
So in the words of my mother,
“If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it at all.”
Control you mind and rid yourself of any negativity, then watch you and others around you Rise Above Life’s Challenges.
How will you control your mind? What negativity will you remove from your life? What are some other ideas you may have to rise above life’s challenges? (Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.)
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