Feeling sorry for yourself? Take a walk around the children’s ward of your local hospital. Stop and talk to the kids. Ask them why they’re there and see how they are coping.
If you are a human being this is guaranteed to work.
Perhaps you have really big problems in your life and you see the point I’m making but you just don’t think it will work?
In that case you should travel to the Congo and find a village in a troubled area. Talk to the local people and hear them talk about the marauding bandits that roam the countryside. Listen to them as they talk about how they live in fear of being attacked. How these bandits could attack their village at any time, unleashing unspeakable atrocities on them.
Then try to think of your own problems.
You will find that an amazing thing has happened.
Your problems will have changed. They are no longer what they once were, they are smaller and less significant. They may even appear petty.
You may even feel embarrassed to have even considered them problems in the first place.
CNN’s heroes of 2010 provide some inspiring role models for us all, especially this guy. How awesome would the world be if we all followed his example?
Have you tried the most obvious option? Have you looked under your nose?
Perhaps you were too daunted to take the most obvious option so you didn’t even consider it. It’s probably still there, waiting for you to open your eyes and realise that it is the path you should take.
Sometimes the best answer is right in front of you. Look there first.
We like to think we are aware of our abilities. We like to think we know our limits. We know what we can do and we know what we can’t do. We see something difficult and say “I could never do that”.
But no matter how well we know ourselves, we don’t know what we are really capable of, that’s for certain.
Absolute certain.
We could do better than we are doing at present, that’s for sure. We could get better grades, a better job, a nicer house. We could help more people. We could make a difference in the world. We could change people’s lives. We could be happier, more fulfilled, more useful, better friends, better fathers…
If we can’t admit that then we’re only kidding ourselves.
It doesn’t matter what we say, who we are or what we’ve already achieved. It’s the same for anyone and everyone.
It’s good to relax. To unwind. To allow your mind to let go of your daily stresses. To allow your body to let go of the tension that your working week creates.
Breathe. Inhale, exhale…
Soften.
Strengthen.
Refresh.
Tune in to the beautiful sounds in the clip below and allow them to resonate throughout your body and mind.
When you’re bogged down in the mud of the daily run of things it can be difficult to keep your head up. When your feet are so heavy with the daily routine that it’s hard just to keep putting one in front of the other it can grind you down.
What you need at times like this is some kind of upliftment.
Recently I spent some time in the US and now that I’m home I’m surprised at the tremendous effect this has had upon me. I’ve returned to my everyday life with a bit of a spring in my step.
I traveled to the other side of the world to find this, but you can also find it much closer to home. You don’t even need to take a holiday. It’s just a matter of escaping your daily grind to go somewhere different or simply to do something out of your ordinary.
It could be a hour here, or an evening there, a few days or maybe even longer. Whatever the case, take the time to get away and recharge, refresh, reinvigorate. You’ll come back so much better for it.
What did I do? I went and stood on top of a mountain (Castle Peak in Colorado, this is the view from the top) and said a prayer for world peace – I highly recommend it.
We like to think we are aware of our abilities. We like to think we know our limits. We know what we can do and we know what we can’t do. We see something difficult and say “I could never do that”.
