Daily Gratitude: “Discriminate between events themselves and your interpretations of them.”

We’ve talked about this before but it’s so important. I think it’s the primary cause of conflict between people. Each person has their own interpretation of what happens even if they are all standing watching the same thing.

Why is that? Because how we interpret things is determined by our experiences. Remember that your brain is a gigantic super computer. From the time you’re born (and probably even before that), your brain is collecting data – on everything. Then it associates that data with how you respond/react. It will interpret your response and then categorize events and situations that are similar as dangerous or safe. Of course there are variations of this but your brain is pretty black and white when it comes to preservation.

People who felt safe all the while they were growing up and didn’t really have a lot of trauma in their life will not “freak out” at the same thing a person who had a difficult and traumatic childhood will. All because the first person’s brain didn’t experience much that it considered dangerous whereas the other person had plenty of experiences that their brain raised the alarm on.

Cars zooming by one person can set them into an anxiety attack whereas another person doesn’t even notice. What’s the difference? Maybe the first person grew up in a crime ridden location where robberies and assaults took place constantly and all were accompanied by loud noisy getaway cars.

If you want to learn about yourself, next time you have some sort of reaction to an event, take some time to see if you can track down a prior experience that bothered you. Get into the habit of seeing if you can associate reactions with past events. That way you can identify them and then teach your brain that they are no longer “dangerous” events. It takes time but it’s worth the effort.

Daily Gratitude: “Man needs his
difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.”

This is a hard one to assimilate…unless you’ve “been there and done that” and I will tell you I have plenty of the T-Shirts too.

Think back over your life and see what successes you’ve had. Maybe jot a few down on a scrap of paper.

Now close your eyes and visualize each of them. Really see and feel what happened. Which were easy? Which were filled with difficulties?

Now ask yourself- no one else has to know – which ones are the sweetest and felt the greatest? You don’t have to tell me. I can see your smile as you rub your muscles and remember all the effort it took to achieve “that one!”

So, next time you’re struggling, bring back that fond memory of success. These issues/obstacles/situations are just a part of getting there. And you WILL get there.

Daily Gratitude: “The wound is the place where the light enters you.”

No one likes to he hurt. However, it is the most effective way to grow. We humans seem to need pain in order to improve our lives. People are more likely to want to avoid or get rid of pain than they are to desire rewards. It’s more likely that someone will remain in the status quo rather than put the effort into something they want. If this weren’t the case, the diet pill and crash diet industry wouldn’t be a multi million dollar venture.

When someone feels pain, though, they will do just about anything to get rid of that pain. And often that “anything” involves growth.

I got involved with IFS and then later neuroplastic methods of pain relief because of the pain I had for over a year after I had Shingles. would I have bothered to learn IFS and about neuroplasticity had I not been ready to end it all because of the pain? Probably not.

That wound, the one created by the post Shingles nerve pain opened a window for me. The light crept through a tiny bit but then when I decided to open the window further, it was as if the sun was shining in day and night. My growth was phenomenal- and all because of the wound I had and its pain.