SCARY TIMES….NOT!
Dr. Nancy’s November Nugget
Hopefully, Halloween is the scariest thing you have to deal with right now.
While many are panicking over the receding economy right now, let’s all try to focus on creating ways to deal with it and trust it will pass. As Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” It’s like searching for the Golden Egg when you were a kid at an Easter Egg Hunt. You knew it was there…and the frustration was actually fun. Yet there is not just one “golden egg” right now. Every single person can have a completely different perspective and opportunity in any difficulty. There are infinite golden eggs available. Einstein also said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” What opportunity can you imagine for your life right now?
It’s easy to focus on the cause of this economic situation, the “reality,” and how terrible it is for many people…yet those perspectives are all focusing on the why, which is focusing on the past. It is much more empowering to ask how and who and what questions: How can I create opportunity out of the current situation? Who can help me? What resources do I have? What resources do I need? How can I attain them? What action steps can I take? These questions focus on the now and future.
If you feel stuck, make a list of all the things that are working your life. Your health, your relationship, your car, your home, your golf swing, your hair. There is ALWAYS something(s) working for us, and we want to take this time, on the eve of Thanksgiving, to be grateful for what we do have. If you make a list of all your debts or liabilities, you are setting yourself up for a psychological nosedive. So make a list of all your assets first, as well as all those things that are working for you, as well as all those things you are good at. Allow these things to baste and they will begin to connect dots themselves.
Turn off the TV with its endless anxiety-ridden interviews with economic experts, gloomy predictions, and statistics of unemployment. Turn on some soothing or inspiring music, and take this time to create or (re-create) your mission statement and goals. Take a walk on the beach, go to the zoo, or buy yourself a small bunch of flowers. When you reacquaint with nature and nurture yourself, you send a positive energy through your whole being, reassuring yourself that everything will work out fine. Hasn’t is always? Remember the panic the media instilled in us before the millennium? I wasn’t around in the 1920’s, but I’m sure there was a degree of panic when women were given the vote. Even in 1929, many people did not succumb to the overwhelming panic, and actually made lots of money during the Great Depression…they found creative ways to help others through that time.
Use this time to trust your own resourcefulness and creativity to come through the challenging times with some new wisdom and personal growth…and who knows, maybe a Golden Egg or two.