Finding the Courage to Open to the Possibility of Life

Life keeps throwing surprises your way.  Like, not fun surprises. The annoying kind that fluster you, frustrate you and piss you off.  Things seemed like they were going well and then bam, you’re hit with a twisted ankle, you hit a deer and mess up your car, you get that email that makes your heart beat twice as fast because you sense conflict.

And it keeps on happening; it’s one of those weeks.

Life seemed to be going smoothly and now it’s just not.  Is Mercury in Retrograde, again….!?!

When these frustrating surprises come, you’ve noticed other people are able to handle them with grace and ease.  You want the same for yourself but grace is not quite the word you’d use to describe yourself. 

When it comes to you and surprise mishaps the words you’re more likely to use are pissed, self defeating, inner bitch, completely thrown off and flustered.

It’s getting old.  This pattern of beating yourself up when things don’t go as planned.  The most exhausting part of it all isn’t the incident that happened, it’s the beating yourself up afterward.  You’re so tired of being tired all the time!

I’m here to propose an alternative.  Bear with me here.  It might take a moment to get the hang of it but it’s been radical for me and I think it can be radical for you too.

What if you reframed each and every “mishap” that turned up in the next week?  A simple little reframe might open up a world of possibility.

Here’s how it works:

1.   Something unexpected and generally anxiety producing happens.

2.   You catch the fact that it’s happening and notice yourself having a negative reaction.

3.   In the moment of catching yourself and noticing your reaction you wonder what POSSIBILITY might exist from this new turn of events.

4.   You reframe the struggle into possibility and open your mind to ideas of how this could turn out to be useful, interesting, educational, insightful, exciting, etc.

5.   You continue to dive into your courage in seeing the possibility in the situation instead of the fear or the pain or the angst.

6.   You pat yourself on the back for giving this a try and you feel better all the while.

So yes, the method outlined above takes courage to enact.  It takes tenacity to catch yourself in your responses to the world.  It takes strength to open to what the world has to offer and not expect it all to fall apart.

It’s not easy.  But each time you PRACTICE you step closer into the magical world of possibility.  Into the magical world of YOU.