…That I look for the strength and not the weakness?
Is the cup half full or is it half empty?
For the bulk of my waking hours I am a positive thinker. I like to deal with or look towards solutions and tend to suggest (at least to myself) that there is no problem or challenge too great. I am never given more than I can handle, so to speak… it is just my own thinking that will create that mindset from time to time.
We humans have massive amounts of vulnerabilities and “failings” (which I often equate as an impetus for learning and growth.) We are emotional beings who, with the right direction, can find ourselves on a constantly maintained path that requires huge amounts of awareness, humility, an open mind and complete willingness (there are no half-measures that will provide the desired lasting result…) I do find it interesting that every so often I will ask myself if the classroom is ever NOT in session, but the bottom line is an opportunity to grow and learn should not be equated to the mindset of academia, but more a simple meaning of life. I am here to learn and my classroom is my day-to-day experience. Some days the lessons are not of my liking, but they are valuable just the same. Some days the classroom is filled with creativity, art, love and adventure.
Along with the valuable lessons come the field trips, lunches, recess and a lot of great electives that will stimulate the path along with the required “courses”. Not every lesson or “classroom” experience need be equated with schooling. The lessons I have learned in love, for instance… or the simple art of relating to other human beings in all manor or form of relationship is not something that can be taught in a classroom. It is the experience of the world and the practice, practice, practice that makes the individual a better student in the subject.
Naturally, for some of us, there was no manual as to the basics that life may require. There are days that I wonder if I ever saw the manual in the first place. Other days I honestly feel that I have been in enough classrooms to write one. What I have figured out is that there are distinct advantages to NOT learning about life with instructions. If I do so, I am possibly going to start living somebody else’s life. The “wing it” method, filled with its leaps of faith and plethora of embarrassing moments and mistakes has given me an outstanding edge in the individual being department. I am proud of that person. I am grateful for the strength and bravery to come through this life with the vigor and verve of a soul that wants nothing more than to continue growing and working with those around me to be the best I can be… while having the best time doing it.
There is a pattern I have discovered, however, that has aided me throughout my sober years especially (I am not sure that I was astute enough to have learned this prior to the years that I was introduced in program..) That pattern is illuminated in the title of this blog entry. When I arrive to a lesson with a negative… looking for the faults or the problems, the weakness or the flaw, this is precisely what I am going to find within the answer. Where there may be an argument of “buyer beware” I would suggest that the only way to look at the world through advantageous eyes is to understand that there is good in everything (as namby pamby as that may sound.) If I am going to pursue a lesson, a goal, some growth or any sort of change in my life I want to look for what is right within it.
I am looking for the solutions and thus the strength within whatever it is.
Today I am working within obvious transition in my life. I am building myself towards a shift that I know will provide me with a new and profound chapter to this mortal coil. What has been my problem as I work through the many lessons and classrooms in this pursuit is impatience. The need to step quickly, often looking for short cuts and the subconscious desire to avoid the lesson altogether and jump immediately into the goal. Unfortunately, lessons left unlearned are going to be repeated.
In days to come I am going to look at the transitions and discuss what I have been doing wrong… and thus changing to do correctly. I will be living within my transition and the time it takes for a soul to “trudge” through to happy destiny. Everything happens when and if it is supposed to… and in learning that lesson, along with the strengths over weaknesses in which one looks at it all, I am going to continue to learn how to enjoy the moments I am IN… and not just the ones I think I would prefer.
Until then…
Be Happy. Be Well. Be.