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.Tweet: We have a choice about how we view everything in our lives. [Quick tip] http://ctt.ec/6BXDr+

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.Tweet: The next time you perceive something as a setback, pause for a moment. Look for the lesson... [Quick tip] http://ctt.ec/6BXDr+

Feeling Stuck Right Now?

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Image courtesy of FrameAngel at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When Things Get Tough, Brace for Impact

womanathleteEvery year at the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, CA, an individual of  distinction is selected to be the Grand Marshal.

On January 1, 2010,  the 121st Parade Grand Marshal was Captain Chesley “Sully”  Sullenberger III, the celebrated hero who landed the U.S. Airways Flight  1549 in the icy waters of the Hudson River in New York, NY in January  2009.

His ride in the Rose Bowl Parade leading thousands of  flower-bedecked floats was a lot more fun and stress-free than when he  safely landed in full view of many New Yorkers, saving the lives of 155  passengers and crew.

In one of many interviews, Sullenberger admitted that  he had always wanted to see the Rose Bowl Parade in person.

He certainly  got his wish, and how!

What makes Sullenberger an overnight hero is not just that he made a  successful landing and averted a disastrous crash. He is celebrated  because when faced with a startling dilemma, he assessed the situation,  made a decision and braced himself and his crew for impact.

The ending could have been very different, of course, but Sullenberger could not hesitate while he pondered indefinitely.

Most of us will never be faced with the heart-pounding scare that  must have gripped Sullenberger that day, but we will all be faced with  some situations that require us to brace for impact.

Like Rosa Parks whose refusal to surrender her bus seat to a white  passenger in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 unwittingly sparked the civil  rights movement, you may one day discover yourself in a new role that  you never expected.

Most of us, of course, are not faced with tough situations that are  as dramatic and far-reaching as those faced by Sullenberger and Parks.  But our crises can be devastating, nonetheless.

You may have lost your job, your life savings or your hope. To  survive these you must take similar actions to the heroes mentioned  above.

Assess your situation, determine what you can do right now, then use  immediate tools and resources that can help you and take bold action.

You may never be called upon to save a nation or a plane load of  people, but if you can brace for the impact of your personal adversity,  you can emerge successful.
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