Ok…so life sucks sometimes! So what?! Get over it!
Reading blogs, stalking my “friends” on Facebook and drinking my morning brew when suddenly I have an epiphany! I need to set clear goals and boundaries for myself! I know…that seems lame. Everyone knows that…no news here. Well, it is news because I just realized it on a whole new level. Not the superficial “oh yeah! that makes sense” level that you get when you hear a motivational speech or read an inspirational quote. This is different.
I read a blog today http://journeyinstitute.org/blog/opposing-positive-and-the-meaning-of-life/ written by a colleague from one of my past lives before this journey to artist-hood started. I do try to be positive but from my last post you can see that sometimes I have a hard time in spite of my silver linings. After reading the blog mentioned, I started thinking a lot about how I could incorporate more action into my plan for happiness and how that action could make situations like the dog food incident from the previous post be a distant memory and not an ongoing challenge.
Michael’s blog speaks to the idea of reality vs possibilities and whether its a good or bad idea to set lofty goals. When I thought of the impetus to my last post, I hastily jumped to the conclusion that the action needed was to get rid of the cause of the arguments in my life…that was solely based on the cause being the other persons fault and me having no responsibility in the problem other than continuing to stay in spite of it. Well that works in a fantasy world, but I am a realist to some degree so now I need to find a balance between fantasy and reality. Wow…that’s what the blog I read was about…Is thinking I could be happier if not in this relationship getting my hopes up too high? Wait a minute! I think I’ve muddled something here…
As Michael states in his blog, “It misses one main, and often forgotten, principle of the think positive movement. Namely that it is just as much, if not more, about the journey as it is the destination…” So is my journey more about finding a way to set my goals and navigate my course through the maze of this relationship? Parts of the arguments are based on my lofty ideas and dreams. Or, is it about eliminating the blockage and moving forward through the unknown to find my hopes and dreams at the end of the trail?
I have never had such a hard time with decisions in my life. I think that is why I struggle to make the action plans that would help me succeed. I’m still trying to heal from the not so distant past with my mom and she is still here and I am faced with decisions every day that leave me conflicted and unsure of myself and my decisions. I find myself wanting to run away all the time. It is very similar in my relationship. I am not sure who I really am. Can I find the person, the real me that I lost after my father died? Do I want to? Maybe this is why I have been stuck for so long. When I look back through my own blog, I see gaping holes that only I know are times that life was so heavy, I didn’t know how to pick up the keyboard…but that’s where this all gets clear for me…
It’s about taking the best of both worlds and combining them. It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing approach. Its not about setting unrealistic goals or the opposite of not setting goals at all to avoid failure. Its about setting the lofty goals and navigating the ruts you find honestly. You can put on a smiley face and go through life like there is never any problems, but that only makes the problems follow you on your journey. IF you deny them, they will work their way under your feet and you will have to keep stepping on them or over them. IF on the other hand, you acknowledge them and work through them honestly, you can move on and leave the dust of them behind. The real key here is to keep your compass pointing toward your goal so that when the dust settles, you can find your bearings again.
Michael said it very well…
It’s about the journey, not simply the destination. Positive Thinking in and of itself will not help you achieve your goals. Put together, however, with specific action, focus, thought and the right questions, Positive Thinking will not only help you achieve your goals, it will help you enjoy the journey as well.