Dear Friend,
Yesterday, I wrote about the Power of Positive Thinking. Today I’d like to talk a bit about the challenges that you will likely face in bringing that Power into your life.
How many of us have gotten pumped up by powerful ideas, certain that we can implement them in our lives, and yet within days, or even hours, we have nearly forgotten about them? Why does this happen, and how can we make sure that we don’t lose focus?
There are a couple of ways to approach this problem, because there are various factors that typically play a large role in preventing us from directing our lives where we really want them to go.
First there is ourselves. Specifically, our bad habits. Unless great effort is made to train ourselves to follow new, positive habits, our old habits will always take hold and guide us back to our old lives. Know that if we are following our true life’s purpose, then our natural passion will act as a virtual shot of adrenalin to make it easier to kick-start these changes and make them permanent. Without that passion, only the most disciplined among us are likely to succeed in changing old habits. Anyone who has ever tried to quit smoking or any other bad habit understands what I am talking about.
Second, there are those around us. Regardless of how much positive energy that we carry with us to achieve an important objective, those people who are closest to us have a huge amount of power to deflate that energy at the moment when it is most easily upset and tenuous. Essentially, who you associate with has a great deal to do with how hard it will be for you to achieve your dreams. This point becomes doubly difficult when we consider that most of us are surrounded by people who we cannot easily distance ourselves from. That is, our extended family. If you want to fully achieve your potential, you must intentionally surround yourself with people who support your efforts and who challenge you to grow. If you find yourself in the opposite situation, you may be faced with a difficult and painful decision. Under these circumstances, regardless of your initial excitement and drive, most of us will take the easier, safer route and simply slide back into our old life.
This subject could fill several books, and does. I simply want to communicate how complex initiating a new direction in your life can be, and the areas where you should expect some friction and conflict to arise. When people innocently begin this sort of initiative they are often caught off guard by the degree of opposition and difficulty they run into, and this resistance generally quickly drains folks of whatever positive energy that they started out with.
I’m not trying to deflate your energy or excitement. And by no means am I saying that you cannot achieve anything that you want to if you simply apply yourself consistently, because you can. Rather, I am saying that it is unwise to be naive about what you will likely face when you decide to dump the life of a sleeping robot and seize the life you were meant to live. The life of a Passionate Warrior.
I wish you the best. I know that you will succeed.
Talk to you soon,
Hugh
