Thursday, October 24, 2013

Get Over It Or Die Pissed Off

Now that’s a statement isn’t it? When something doesn’t go just right or something is not the way you really intended or someone really disappointed you… have you ever said to yourself, “Well, I guess I am going to have to get over it or Die Pissed Off?”

No, not really? Well, maybe you ought to give it some hard thought.

True, the emotion can be “sad”, “worried”, “afraid”, “controlling”, even “disappointed”. It can be any of the “feelings” we all have. There are hundreds of them but the ones that really get us into trouble and the ones that truly take us to our grave are the Major Four Disabling Emotions that cause the majority of human upset; ANGER, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY and INADEQUACY.

These are the FOUR HORSESMAN that ride our misery and cause the majority of our major emotional problems; these emotional problems then drive our behavior and affect our lives in a truly major way. So why do we hold on to them so frantically? Why is it so hard to “Get over it”? By now you know I am all about “choice”. That the decisions we make in our lives and the manner in which we hold ourselves accountable make “huge” differences in what we do, how we feel and what we think.

What if it was truly your choice to “get over it” or stay caught in that vortex until you do… And that if you don’t, you would truly take it to your grave. Would you make that choice and then do what is necessary to make it “right”? I know, it’s not all that easy but maybe it is possible… sometimes it is all about decision and the choice to take the “high” road for self and others. Sometimes it is all about just “letting it go”.

What would happen if you did not harbor the resentments you have held for so long? What would happen if you decided to do something about the situation you are in instead of worrying about what might or is going happen sometime in the future. What would happen if you seriously looked at what you can do rather than what you can’t do? What would happen if you focused on solutions rather than all that hinders you? What would happen if you decided to reach out to the person who angers you rather than reminding yourself why you are angry and how they mistreated you in the first place...

What would happen if you just let it go…? What would happen if you just “got over it”?

Sometimes we face the enemy and the enemy is ME….. Sometimes, the face in the mirror is the one we need to make amends with. Sometimes, yes sometimes, all we have to do is get up on the other side of the bed. Do something different today…..

So until next time…. Give it some thought…. I know, I know! It’s all about choice…. You’ve made yours and now I have to make mine….

I think this Reservation Recluse is going to exercise his right to choose! So until next time… give it a try. You may like the results….

And remember, keep your silhouette off the ridges and ride with a full canteen when you find you have to cross the desert…. Maybe it’s time to take a calculated risk…….

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Thrive or Survive

I have come to understand that there is a big valley between what I FEEL and what I DO. Often I DO what I don’t FEEL like doing. I guess it is what DR LAURA says on her show… “Now, go out and DO the RIGHT thing”. Sometimes doing the “right thing” is difficult and I am not sure if DOING may just be “blindly” following or “stepping” off the edge of some cliff...

I guess it all comes down to not the “what” but the “how” and not the “if” but the “when”. If all is filtered, the WHEN is best served “fresh” and that is NOW. And just because I make a “committed decision” doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion. And maybe doing the “right thing” is just the beginning and has little to do with what or how you “Feel”.

Boy, Is that a mouth full? Does it make any type of sense? Well, maybe it does.

I was told the other day that there appears to be a theme running through most of these writings. That theme is one of survival. When I was first told this I thought, “That’s not bad”. Then I began to realize that survival was not enough. What I wanted was to “THRIVE”. If I wanted that, then maybe others did as well.

What does it mean to thrive? For me, that word is FULL of responsibility and accountability. It means talking it to the next level. It means turning it up a notch. It means you are getting somewhere. You are not JUST SURVIVING. You are LIVING. You are GROWING. You are BUILDING. YOU are fully ENGAGGED.

Why does that happen you might ask? The answer, BECAUSE; because you are engaged in the HOW. How do I make a better life for my children? How do I survive the loss of the person I thought I loved? How do I pay next weeks rent/mortgage? How do I gain a better career? How do I gain better understanding of those I care about and who care about me? How do I maintain stability when all about me is in crises and chaos? How do I become a better father, son, daughter, wife, mother, lover, boss or employee?

The How’s are endless and the methods are varied. If the How is really served FRESH, it means you are involved today. You are involved RIGHT NOW. You are putting nothing off until tomorrow. Even if it is frightening, even if you do not KNOW the outcome; you do what you can today. You do what you can NOW.

Thrive is an action verb. It is not a destination. It is not a verb of past tense. It is not something someone else does. It is something you DO. Thrive is not a perception. It is total immersion.

Do you want to SURVIVE or do you want to THRIVE. The question is yours and the Answer? Well, that’s yours too. I’ve chosen mine. Now as the good Dr. Laura would say, go out and “do the right thing”.

“. . . Nothing under heaven can arrest the progress of the human soul on its long pilgrimage from darkness to light, from the unreal to the real, from death to immortality, and from ignorance to wisdom.”

--Alice A. Bailey

“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”

-- Dalai Lama