Terrie’s Tip – Take some time each day to look at all that happened but examine each thing closely to see what opportunity is hiding beneath the surface.

There are a lot of “self-help” discussions on opportunity and even though I used to just get “bored” when things are repeated over and over, this topic always pops up when it’s supposed to in my life.

Things happen in our lives for a reason even if we have no idea what that reason is and won’t for a long time. But the very special part of turning your thinking around is that when you search the events of your life, it’s better than hunting for gold – it’s definitely a treasure hunt.

If you just take an event with the initial reactions/emotions and don’t go any deeper we’ll never find the gifts that were put in front of us. For each event is a gift – whether it’s a good one or a bad one. It’s pretty easy to see the gifts when you interpret an event as good. But the bad ones….well, not so easy. It’s easier to just stay angry, sad, resentful or whatever and not moving forward.

But what if you decided that you wanted to see what treasure is deep within? Doesn’t that thought just get your excitement up? It does mine. What if you decided you were going to find the diamond – the opportunity – in each and every “negative” appearing thing that happens to you? Wouldn’t that be special – to know that there is an opportunity for you to find and explore? And if that opportunity could lead you to much greater happiness – wouldn’t that be worth the few minutes you’ve taken to just open your mind and investigate?

I have been guilty of not doing this for most of my life but I have been pretty good at doing it in reverse. What I mean by that is looking back and seeing how the things that happened to me that were not what I wanted at the time actually turned out best for me. I only wonder how wonderful it would have been to recognize the opportunities at the time.

But in the past year and then in the past few months I’ve been looking at things in a different light. Two examples come to mind but I’ll only give one here and save the other for another post.

It has to do with my flat tire this week. Who knew that one simple old flat tire could end up hogging 3 posts? LOL

But the opportunity that came from that was my personal growth. When I pulled over I knew I had AAA but didn’t want to have to deal with an unknown person. I wanted comfort – this was a subconscious feeling but as I look at it, it was there. So who could I call? Could I call? I mean after all it’s asking for help and most of you know how hard that is for me to do. But I was in a dilemma because my “go to” neighbor was gone I thought. So, without hesitation, I texted my other neighbors – people whom I adore but have never really asked for help. It was a brave moment for me. And as I found out he, too, was out of town, I was thinking of who else I could call. This is unheard of for me.

What was the opportunity buried in my flat tire? One was how calm I felt and I wanted to deal with everything in life like that. So, what do I need to do to get there? And that’s where the opportunity is – examining what made me calm and how to continue that. And, what made me brave enough to ask people for help? The work I have been doing with IFS and examining my limitations and what parts need to be heard (IFS is “parts” therapy). You don’t need to understand this but just know that it’s something I’ve been involved in for the past 8 months or more and heavily for 6 months. This event showed me what could be for me if I continue doing the same and more. I would just have thought of this as another inconvenience had I not taken the time to examine the event looking for the opportunities.

There is an opportunity to grow in every single event we experience. Our only job is to look for it so go get your metal detectors and find the treasure deep within.