Monday Motivating Mindset
THE HYPE
This weeks Motivating Mindset will help you feel more grateful for your life and act with more appreciation of your life.
THE CHALLENGE
Your Mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:
"What problems am I blessed with?"
THE PROMISE
Ask yourself this question as many times as you have problems this week and the promise is you will laugh more and experience more gratitude in your life.
THE TIPS
Whenever you find yourself upset, unmotivated, ungrateful, pessimistic, doubtful, or just having an old fashioned "bad day", stop for a minute and ask yourself "What problems am I blessed with?" to help you shift gears and move away from that state.
People often mistakenly believe that the "grass is greener" on the other-side of the fence.
We are tempted to feel like people have more than us, live better lives than us and that no one has to go through the trials and tribulations we do.
We can also feel like failures in our own lives, like our problems are bigger than our ability to overcome them.
Applying today's mindset of "what problems am I blessed with" can help you put things into a more positive perspective.
First, instead of focusing all your energy on resisting a negative situation or something that you don't have be prepared to do the opposite.
That is to say, practice your ability to surrender to the current state of your affairs, learn to yield to situations and empower yourself.
You may have difficulties at first trying to surrender and uncover the "good" out of a "bad" situation but trust that this ability will only grow with practice.
With time and practice you will begin to see the "truth" behind reality, that situations, circumstances and even problems are not inherently good or bad.
The concept of good or bad are just mental images that we affix to a people, places and things.
That is to say, nothing is either good or bad by itself, there is no such thing as a "bad gun" or a "good lottery", these are subjective terms we've applied.
Take for instance a sporting event such as a Football game where the two teams are competing against each other.
During the play the offense wants to do something that moves their team forward and closer to their goal, such as run or pass and catch the ball.
However, simultaneously and parallel to that reality is the reality and objectives of the opposing team, who does not want to allow the other team to advance, run or pass and catch the ball.
Pretend that the offense snaps the ball and the quarterback drops back and releases a long-bomb.
If the receiver catches the ball the team on offense will jump up and down thinking that was a "good" play and the team on defense will jump up and down thinking that was a "bad" play.
If the defender deflects the pass and stops the team on offense the team on defense will jump up and down and think it was a "good" play and the team on offense will think the opposite.
There are two realities both containing "good" and "bad" existing in one outcome.
Only one reality will unfold and yet both outcomes will manifest.
Circumstances in and of themselves are not good or bad but rather our assessment and action towards them.
Learning to view your situation in more neutral perspectives will increase your ability to respond versus react to problems and situations.
When we react to a perceived problem it doesn't serve us, however if we choose to respond to a perceive problem then we can move forward.
When problems start to happen ask yourself the question "What problems am I blessed with" and list at least 5 problems that you are happy to have.
The more basic you can breakdown your happiness the more things you will find to be grateful for.
Start with your breathing and notice your breath. Breathe is the essence of live because we need it to survive, are you happy you are breathing to begin with?
Next consider your senses, do you have all of them in good working order? Many people with disabilities would give anything to be able to experience life with your level of sense.
What about your physical body, is it too in good working order?
Move down to your belongings, do you have a shelter over your head? How about a vehicle to drive to work?
Now think about your problem in terms of someone else's shoes. How many people on Earth at this very moment would love to be you?
I bet there are more people that you can imagine!
If you woke up relatively healthy under a roof in a bed and ate breakfast before you drove to work then congratulations, you've just lived the dream life of thousands of immigrants who would love to have the opportunities you have.
Life is a blessing in disguise, the sooner you practice seeing through the illusions the longer you can appreciate it's true beauty and wonder.
Asking yourself "What problems am I blessed with" will help you realize that there is nothing in life that you must "do" but enjoy being you.
THE SECRET
Even though the numbers are only approximate the following written by an anonymous author puts today's motivating mindset into perspective.
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following.
There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 would be Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would
be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
ONE would be near death; ONE would be near birth
ONE would have a college education
ONE would own a computer.
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, you recognize that you are indeed among the fortunate......
And, therefore . . .
If you woke up this morning
with more health than illness,
you are more blessed than the
million who won't survive the week.
If you have never experienced
the danger of battle,
the loneliness of imprisonment,
the agony of torture or
the pangs of starvation,
you are ahead of 20 million people
around the world.
If you attend a church meeting
without fear of harassment,
arrest, torture, or death,
you are more blessed than almost
three billion people in the world.
If you have food in your refrigerator,
clothes on your back, a roof over
your head and a place to sleep,
you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank,
in your wallet, and spare change
in a dish someplace, you are among
the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If your parents are still married and alive,
you are very rare,
especially in the United States.
If you hold up your head with a smile
on your face and are truly thankful,
you are blessed because the majority can,
but most do not.
If you can hold someone's hand, hug them
or even touch them on the shoulder,
you are blessed because you can
offer God's healing touch.
If you can read this message,
you are more blessed than over
two billion people in the world
that cannot read anything at all.
You are so blessed in ways you may never even know.
Ask yourself "What problems am I blessed with?" and remind yourself to be thankful for all your blessings in disguise.
