“Every day, think as you wake up,
Today I am fortunate to have woken up,
I am alive, I have a precious human life,
I am not going to waste it,
I am going to use
All my energies to develop myself
To expand my heart out to others,
To achieve enlightenment for
The benefit of all beings,
I am going to have kind thoughts towards others,
I am not going to get angry,
Or think badly about others
I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”
~His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama
“Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Chris Sopa published by Balboa Press.
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook.com/ChrisSopaInternational, Twitter @ChrisSopa, LinkedIn, and Google+.
Finding Meaning“Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.”
~Victor Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning“
We have all heard the phrase, “what does not kill me makes me stronger.” Let’s face it, some of us have had some pretty bad things happen in our lives…terrifying, heart-wrenching things. Things we do not want to think about let alone talk about.
No matter what has happened to you, the past cannot be changed. The event is there and cannot be erased. But…there is one thing that CAN change – your perspective. Victor Frankl in his book Man’s Search for Meaning describes his life in a Nazi concentration camp. What he noticed was the prisoners (who were all undergoing the same treatment) that found meaning in their lives, or something to live for, continued to live.
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
You and I could experience the same exact circumstance but what will be different is how we each embrace, interpret, value, symbolize and respond to it. How we respond, is a matter of personal choice. We were given free will – the ability to choose – in order to experience a balanced life and to grow as a human being. Growth occurs through our greatest challenges…those are our greatest moments and the exact moments we came here for. Yes, we embrace the experiences that bring us joy, such as the embrace of a loved one, but the very thing that allows us to appreciate that moment is our past challenges that we overcame…the exact circumstances that made us who we are today.
Take an inventory of those things in your life you now call challenges and evaluate how you are choosing to look at that challenge. What meaning are you giving it? What can you do to feel better right now? What did you learn from the challenge? What would you do different if that same challenge was presented to you again in a different form?
Use your challenges as life lessons that build you up rather than tear you down. In order for your life to change, YOU have to change. Nothing changes if nothing changes.
Until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing, you will stay the same.
Lots of love to you this Valentine’s Day,
Chris
“Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Chris Sopa published by Balboa Press.
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook.com/ChrisSopaInternational, Twitter @ChrisSopa, LinkedIn, and Google+.
Excelsior“If you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining.”
~Pat (Bradley Cooper), from “Silver Linings Playbook”
After my three week trip back east and coming home Wednesday completely exhausted, I found myself on Friday night wanting to get out. There is a great movie theatre near me that is a restaurant-style movie theatre, so I thought, “what the heck!” I will take myself out to a movie! I was in need of motivation, so Hansel and Gretel was out! I decided to go see Silver Linings Playbook. Ok, I will admit, Bradley Cooper did have something to do with this decision…why lie, but I was so glad that I went!
In short, Pat (Bradley Cooper) is a mental case. He gets out of an institution after an eight month stay to live with his parents (Robert DeNiro playing his equally emotionally challenged father) to get his life back on track. I won’t give the rest of the movie away but what caught my attention was Pat’s attitude. In coaching, we use affirmations or “trigger words” to help snap people out of destructive thinking habits. Triggers can be positive or negative. Ex-addicts understand the word “trigger” well…they are taught to stay away from triggers in order to stay clean. Pat had 2 triggers – his negative one being a song that he heard in his head when he became stressed out and was about to have an episode and a positive one, which was only one word: Excelsior. Excelsior was a word Pat used to stay positive. It reminded him that there is always a silver lining if you look hard enough and to never give up.
We all have our own personal challenges. Everyone has asked themselves the question “why me?” at some point in their lives. My personal belief is that these challenges are a blessing. We have the challenges that we have because that is the exact area in which we need healing. How are you supposed to heal something if you are unaware of it needing healing? Besides, if you had nothing in your life to work on – if everything was perfect – admit it, you would be bored! Your life would be like watching paint dry! The challenges in our lives are what give our life color, they are what make us strive to be better than we are and they are what make us human.
The real challenge is who you decide to be as you overcome your challenges? Do you know your triggers – good and bad? What are you doing every day to make yourself a better person? What is your definition of a “good person?” Do you see the lining as silver or gray?
If you do just one small thing a day for yourself out of love, you will soon see that the life you are trying so hard to make perfect already is perfect…because YOU are the star!
Trust in life and what you need will be there…always!
Hugs,
Chris
“Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Chris Sopa published by Balboa Press
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook.com/ChrisSopaInternational, Twitter @ChrisSopa, LinkedIn, and Google+.
Attraction“You do not attract what you want; you attract what you are.”
~Wayne Dyer
Our desires are what motivate us to move in our lives. We are constantly giving birth to new desires…as one desire is fulfilled; another one almost immediately takes it place. As humans, we need something to look forward to in life. We do not do very well with the same ole, same ole day in and day out.
The Universe works on laws. The law of gravity keeps our feet planted on the ground and the law of attraction draws things that are alike together.
As humans, we are energy beings. We are made of cells, which on many levels, vibrate. Our feelings even carry a certain vibration – anger being very low on the scale of vibration and joy being very high. The thoughts we choose to focus upon dictate our feelings, therefore dictate our vibration level. Our vibration level is felt by others – which is why you can walk into a room and go “Whoa! What is going on in here?” But, our vibration is also felt by Universe and is the main vehicle through which we communicate with it.
The Universe picks up our “signal” and because it only follows laws, kicks in the law of attraction. You feel lonely, so it delivers to you in the form of experiences, opportunities to be lonely. It notices where you are putting your attention (your thoughts and feelings) and takes that as communication that “this is what you want.”
Just as we sometimes have to work on our communication skills in life, we must also pay attention to how we are communicating to the Universe. If you want to manifest certain things into your life, you have to feel and think as if those things are already here. In other words, you have to BELIEVE that your wish has already come true! (I am a millionaire…I am just waiting for the money to arrive in my bank account!) . Practice paying attention to your thoughts and feelings this weekend. Where are you putting your attention? Who are you being? Are you being someone who complains and worries or are you being someone who practices joyfulness and hope? Everything that happens to us in our lives happens for a reason…no matter how you choose to interpret it. The Universe is kind and only creates situations in which we will be best taken care of. Trust it and trust yourself that you have the strength, power and control to dictate your life to go where you want it to go. That is why we were given free will…USE IT!!
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”
~Kahil Gibran
Attracting love and light,
Chris
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook.com/ChrisSopaInternational, Twitter @ChrisSopa, LinkedIn, and Google+.