In every life I believe there is a moment when, like a flash of lightening we have a complete understanding of the meaning of this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt ““You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude.”
It is one of life lessons we can’t really be taught, instead we must experience it. We may be able to logically understand how it is possible, yet the awakening happens when we experience the transformation which happens when we change our attitude.
Even if you agree and believe it, it is not as powerful as it is in the moment that we actually have allowed ourselves to completely change a negative situation into an opportunity. Re-adjust our position from a struggle into a challenge we can rise to. When we transform from feeling like the victim to believing we will overcome our current circumstances we flip the script.
We regain the power of our choices, our actions and ultimately our destiny. Life is not what happens to us. Life is what we do with what happens to us. Here are some questions I use to remind myself of the power I have to shift my circumstances and take back the power I may feel I have lost in the moment.
1. What action can I take now to better the situation? Sometimes, the answer is merely self-reflection and seeking to see how you ended up where you are.
2. What choices or decisions did I make that lead me to this point in my life? Is it something I said, or didn’t say? Was it an action or lack of action?
3. Who has been impacted by this situation beyond me? How can I lesson the impact on them?
4. If I look back over the last 5-10 years have I overcome another similar situation? If so I know I can overcome this? Then when I have tried to learn how to stop repeating the same situations.
5. What is the outcome I want to get attain? How can I find a solution from where I am to where I want to be?
Life is full of options and it isn’t until we take ownership over how we respond to our situations and learn to adjust our response and take action that we can alter our path. Otherwise, we are may find years have passed by and we are left with countless stories of how life always worked against us.
What do you want out of the next 1-2 years and what can you do today to shart taking action to make that possibility a reality? How can you flip your own script.
Life is often answered through a series of questions which only we can truly know the answer for ourselves. What could change if you started to ask more questions of your own life and your own hopes?
Will your life change? Will you be changed? OR Will you create the change you need to create the life you want?
CL Landreth