Rising To Meet Lifes Great Challenge

People faced with losing their jobs or their homes. Parents grappling with difficult teenagers. Relationships going down the tubes. Money worries, stress, anxiety. Life is full of challenges. Or is it? As we will see, none of the issues that face us in our everyday lives is the real challenge the real challenge is to be able to see them for what they really and truly are and act appropriately and decisively. Unfortunately, its difficult to see things for what they are if you are bedevilled by a normal mind. And most of us are.

It goes without saying that daily life is, indeed, full of issues that we have to handle - from dealing with teenage children to coping with a difficult boss, from facing major problems in your business to handling money problems. However, as I've already said, these are not actually the challenges - these are simply the ebbs and flows of life. And, like the tide that is constantly coming in and going out, all these issues arise and pass away. The terrible thing is, though, that we often freeze in the face of oncoming problems - and we react.

Our reactions are, as normally-minded people, simply dictated by our subconscious. But it gets worse! Your subconscious mind isn't even focused on the reality of the problem that you're facing. Instead, it is using what psychologists call your 'stored knowledge' to make sense of what is going on - and, in the process, makes nonsense of it. This stored knowledge was learned when we were young and impressionable - it is decades out of date. As a result, we are ill-equipped to handle life's problems. That's the reason why there are so many frustrated, anxious, stressed and fearful people around. It's also the reason why so many of us keep repeating the same mistakes, not learning from what's gone before.

On the other hand, if you are clear in your mind and focused on what is actually going on, solutions will and do present themselves. We are, however, as things stand, working against ourselves because our subconscious mind operates to ensure that we react in the face of what we think is going on. And one of the biggest problems with this is that this whole process happens automatically. Bear in mind, this is your subconscious mind's default mode - it's the way that we're hard-wired. You have to be prepared to work at developing your clear state of mind. And both commitment and self discipline are prerequisites for this job.

To do this work, you need to get mentally fit! You must train yourself to clear your mind in peace and quiet - nobody in their right mind trains when they've actually gone out to play the game. I recommend meditation. A few minutes first thing in the morning will make sure that your mind is both clear and focused before the rough and tumble of the day begins. Sadly, most people - sometimes even those who meditate - completely misunderstand what meditaton is all about - they believe that meditation calms the mind. No - it energizes that mind so that you're ready, willing and able to take the real action that is called for - and this type of action is world's apart from our normal reactive behaviour.

You need to make a daily commitment. This calls for the kind of self-discipline on which I have already touched. People often tell me that they have committed to, for example, changing their lives. However, commitment isn't a one-off decision. Commitment demands action - again and again. Commitment is only an empty promise until you validate it through ongoing continuous action. This means that you need to commit to meditating every day - after all, you've no idea when life will chuck the next problem in your direction.

Armed with clarity of mind, you'll be able to fully appreciate each problem for what it really is - something that will, sooner or later, go away, assuming that you've taken the right action. In some situations you will find that taking no action is actually the best action. From time to time, you will be called upon to be brave and courageous - and the normal mind doesn't like being brave or courageous! However, only a normal muddled mind sees such action as brave or courageous - a clear mind will simply see the actions that need to be taken as the next logical step in resolving matters. Armed with clarity of mind, it will not only become obvious as to what the right course of action is - you'll be fully primed to go and take that action, effortlessly.

There is, of course, an even more exciting benefit that flows from having a clear mind. Not only will you be able to see life's problems for what they really are, you will also clearly see life's opportunities as well. All too often, the normal mind believes that every silver lining has a cloud - we see shadows and ghosts where none exist. However, everything becomes crystal clear to a clear mind! It will be obvious that you can banish life's dark clouds. But it will also be obvious that even those dark clouds come with a 'silver lining'!

To sum up, there are various problems and issues that we face every day that we have simply got to deal with - more often, though, we need to take appropriate action to deal with them. As you now know, the normal mind will quite possibly believe that the real action required is close to impossible - this is on top of the fact that the normal mind will probably not even know what the real problem is in the first place! More than that, your clarity of mind will not just enable you to spot life's opportunities - it will perfectly equip you to fully embrace them.


Copyright (c) 2011 Willie Horton