Understanding Balance

I was going to originally title this post: Understanding winning and losing. But that has the wrong connotation, because if someone "wins" that brings to mind someone else "losing." And isn't life a tapestry of both? And many would say you learn more from your losses than from your wins.

That doesn't mean we should strive to lose, but I once had a great business coach who told me that if you want to succeed, you had to fail faster. I believe it was Earl Nightingale who said, "The degree of success you have is directly related to the difficulty of the questions you ask yourself." 

Looking at the balance of life lessons as a tapestry, and admitting where we were wrong is a huge part of making the adjustments we need to make to have a fulfilled life.

I spend 1/2 hour every morning in quiet time, and I ask my higher power for guidance. I thank him for my yesterday and pray that today will be a good day for me. I list my gratitudes and ask for strength for my failings. "Bring kindness, peace and light into my soul," is usually what I end my prayer with. And then I try to remember this during the day. Especially when I fail.

Old patterns die hard. Easy to blame someone else when we caused the "failure." Sometimes we just had to learn the lesson, like getting burned on the stove when we were little. Like a plant that is grown in a hothouse and then set out in the mid day sun. It will wither, because it hasn't been tested, honed and strengthened by the cold or harsh elements of mother nature. If we were totally protected, or protected our children so that difficulties never came into proximity, we'd be like that withered plant. Not only would we be no use to ourselves, but to the ones we love as well.

I still love the quote: We over estimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year. Patience. Content with what I do have, not focused on what I don't have. Progress not perfection. Working hard so that when it is my turn, I am fully ready. Making good choices.

I'm grateful that I get to live in a place where I have the opportunity to even think about these things and have so many choices. Millions of people in this world would love to switch places with me. I'm not going to waste this gift.