Cute dog

- facing adversity head on

You know, sometimes it can really feel like life dishes up lemons!

I’m sure you have heard this saying and the many and often funny responses that goes with it such as ‘when life gives you lemons make lemonade.’ This well used statement and the corresponding responses is about learning that we all have choices when faced with adversity.

There is no doubt each of us has our own set of challenges and each of us can address these challenges in any way we choose.

We are never alone when confronted by something that causes anxiety, pain or distress. Yet, why is it that some of us cope better than others? We’ve all seen it. The survivors of medical challenges, the water off a ducks back attitude to losing a job, or the shrug of the shoulders when a deal (loss of money) or relationship turns sour.

In the words of Martin Seligman an American psychologist and proponent of positive psychology how we deal with any sort of set-back is dependent on:

  1. how permanent we believe the setback to be (I will never …)
  2. how personal we make it (this always happens to me …)
  3. how pervasive we deem it to be (nothing ever goes right for me …)

These together, says Seligman, leads to learned helplessness. Imagine the constant barrage of negative thoughts that goes hand-in-hand with this and it begins to make sense when we hear Earl Nightingale et al say …

‘we become, what we think about.’

Our thoughts are powerful things yet most of us are unlikely to even be aware of the thoughts we have on a daily basis. But that can change. We can create absolute consciousness around all the thoughts we have; we can become 100% aware of ALL our thoughts always and when necessary change a thought when required.

William James an American philosopher and psychologist said “the greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.”

Grab a journal and for the next 30 days I am asking you to keep track of the thoughts you have.

When you catch your thoughts leaning to the negative, immediately re-frame those thoughts into a positive and write the new better thought in your journal.

Is this of interest to you? Ask me about my ‘Little Book of Make it Happen’ coaching sessions.

Happy Learning …

2 responses to “When life gives you lemons

  1. I am very happy you found the spell timely. And yes, in the words of my best friend Earl Nightingale, ‘we become, what we think about.’ Thank you for commenting. x

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