In my last blog, I talked about the difference between your life and your situation. It’s very easy – human, you might even say – to define yourself by where you are and what you’re dealing with. You’re the one-legged runner. You’re the single mom of three. The guy in line in unemployment. The blind guy. The woman watching her beloved mother die.
Reality can be beautiful, it can be calm and predictable, but it can also be harsh. I’m not suggesting that you deny reality or refuse to share your story; your story is important, and often, as in the case of Dr. Randy Pausch in my last blog, is a gift to others, showing them how positive thought can change the impact of reality. In his Last Lecture, Dr. Pausch put it this way: “We can’t change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I’m not as depressed as you think I should be, I’m sorry to disappoint you.” Later, he said, “It is not about achieving your dreams but living your life.”
What does this mean? Something different for each of us, because we are each unique.
I intentionally selected three widely different examples, so you can see how universal the life/life situation distinction is and what a difference positive thought makes in the outcome. I don’t know what you’re dealing with, but whatever it is, your life is more than your situation. You may not be able to choose your situation. Corrie ten Boom wouldn’t have chosen to have the Nazis invade her country, and she certainly wouldn’t have chosen to have ended up in a concentration camp where she watched her beloved sister weaken and die. But she chose how to respond to the reality.
What’s bigger – your realities? Or your power to choose? If you understand this, you have the key to make major changes in your life, regardless of your life situation.
Roger K. Allen, Ph.D. is an expert in personal transformation, leadership, and teams. His tools and methods have helped hundreds of businesses and tens of thousands of people transform the ways they work and live. To learn more, visit www.theheroschoice.com.
My purpose is to teach you strategies to replace negative patterns with a positive state of mind from which you can achieve your greatest desires and live a joyful and abundant life.
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