When we are in search of ultimate success in our lives, we look everywhere for the secret ingredients. We hear things like “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” or “it takes money to make money” or “you have to have a degree to succeed”. These statements and ones just like them are made by people who are making excuses for their inaction. They end up being belief systems of people searching for the combinations for success that in the end shrink and narrow their findings to random generalizations. Generalizations that come from laziness, repeated failure, or worse lack of faith in ones own ability. For the most part generalizing statements like the ones above are made by someone who has either experienced a situation like this or made the deduction from observing someone else, or is just repeating the phrase they heard somewhere else. You see when we are faced with adversity in life there are always multiple choices of how we will react.
One possible reaction is desperation. Desperation can be turned into inspiration by overcoming a situation and thereby creating a pride or character. It can also be turned into an opportunity to quit, make excuses, to turn tail and run. So what is the difference in people who experience this and can we as individuals choose how we will react?
The answer to this question is that anyone of us has the opportunity to choose how any situation can be dealt with. The answer to how we deal with them is to investigate our patterns, our repeated paths of action. This is the 1st step in awareness. Pick something in your life that you have a pattern of struggle with and be honest with yourself, not judgmental. Let’s take weight loss for example. Let’s say that you are 15 to 20 lbs over weight and you have been for more than 5 years. You have a reunion coming up and you begin to get desperate. The time to investigate is now.
• What have I been doing over the last 5 years with my nutrition, exercise program, and emotional health? • What are the three comments I make to myself when I am faced with the fact that I need to change an activity? (in this case losing 15 lbs) • What has this cost me in the past? I.e. self-respect, dates, bad health check ups. • Who in my life says, does or thinks the same way I do about this issue?
Your patterns will emerge from answering these questions honestly. One of the more important answers to the above questions is the one regarding who else thinks the same way you do about whatever the issue is facing you. More often than not you find that it is a statement or belief that was repeated many times by a parent, friend, or some other respected person in your life. O.K. Jason what do I do with these patterns that I have uncovered? Great question and I believe I have a few solutions.
• Pick a desired outcome. (losing 15 lbs) • Make sure you are crystal clear with yourself about WHY you want it. (I want to walk into my reunion and have people stare at how great I look, or I want to look sexy for my spouse, or you want to have more energy.) What ever the answer is make sure it is a very empowering, inspiring purpose. • Be honest with yourself about what continuing the wrong behavior will cost you in the future. (bad health check up, low energy levels, or bad self-esteem) • Begin today to move toward your desired outcome by changing one or two daily activities to include the new thought process. • Tell someone about your goal and then follow through!
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”
Viktor Frankl
Let your Choice to move powerfully in a new direction of your own choosing overcome your apathy of staying the same! Step up into whatever you see for your own life! You only pass this way but once, make it your masterpiece!!!
Jason Sisneros is an entrepreneur and a highly sought after motivational speaker, personal coach, and corporate trainer. He has battled back from gang involvement, drug and alcohol abuse, and massive depression to bring you his passion for life. His driving purpose is to be a light to those who are in darkness and to be a hand up for those seeking the next level. Let his tireless pursuit of truth help you now! For more of his life changing information and a special free book preview rush to http://www.SeekersManifesto.com | 
