Surprising Benefits of Setbacks

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Imagine beams of sunshine pouring through your bedroom window awakening you. You unfold your arms into a satisfying stretch and throw back the sheets. You spring to your feet looking forward to a wonderful day.

You haven’t opened your mail yet, so you don’t know that you didn’t get the job whose interview you thought you’d aced. Instead of deciding what to wear on your first day, you’re going to spend the day job hunting again. Worse of all, once again you’ve got to figure out how to stretch the few dollars left in your bank account.

Every adversity, every faliure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.
~Napoleon Hill

No matter how hard we plan or try to avoid it, we all encounter adversity, failure, and setbacks. These occurrences are inevitable. Our challenge is handling them well until we manifest the good outcome we want.

This is easier said than done because as humans we love to look in all the wrong places for solutions.

Is Your Solution a Mask or Cure?

When we get a headache we search for an aspirin. When we spot a pimple we want to apply an ointment. And when someone rejects us we want to lash out at them or spend time hating them or getting even.

When we try to solve what we see as problems with external solutions we engage in futility.

Think about the common cold, for example. We’ve heard many times that there is no cure and yet we spend millions on cold cures. Along with prescribing a cure the doctor advises drink liquids and get plenty rest.

When the cold runs its course it goes away. All the cure activities we engaged in for several days just kept us busy masking the symptoms, but didn’t cure the cold. It was a matter of time.

We have a choice about how we view everything that happens in our lives.

Is This a Major Setback or Divine Setup?

When we aren’t selected in a job interview we may decide it’s a setback, when in fact it may be a divine setup for a better job.

When we miss a plane, we may decide it’s a setback causing us to delay a vacation or be late for a meeting. In fact, it may be a divine setup sparing our lives from a plane crash or making us available for a more positive event.

The next time something happens that you would normally see as a setback, pause to look at it another way.

Chances are it’s not the end of the world. Consider that a Higher Power is at work putting you in a situation that will lead to a better direction than you expected.

The next time you perceive something as a setback, pause for a moment. Look for the lesson, the blessing, or the seed of a surprising benefit of your setback.

Feeling Stuck Right Now?

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