Do You Have A Solid Foundation?

Do You Have A Solid Foundation?
by Sibyl McLendon

My husband was contacted recently from a client of his who had fallen on hard times. The man hurt his back, and was forced to go on disability because he is unable to do his job anymore. A week after this happened his wife lost her job. Depressed and very angry, he called my husband to tell his tale, to complain and look for sympathy. He didn’t get much from us.

The true test of a person is not how they act when times are good. It is very easy to be happy, generous and have a positive outlook when everything is great. If people create a solid foundation when times are good, it is going to make things a lot easier when times aren’t so good. Hard times magnify a person’s true nature.

If you have developed a solid spiritual foundation for yourself when your life is going great, it is going to carry you through tough times. How you perceive negative occurrences, the perspective you look at them from, determines how quickly you can overcome adversity. These perspectives are developed over time. It is too late to work on this when the bad times hit; the time to build the foundation is when everything is going great in your life. Chances are, when you are surrounded by adversity, you won’t have the energy or the will to start from scratch on this.

1.Develop a relationship with your Higher Power, whatever or whoever you perceive this to be. Faith is priceless when you need it. If you believe that everything happens for a reason it is easier to look for anything good in a negative situation and find a way out of it.

2.Look for the blessings in your life every single day. Even bad days have blessings, if you are accustomed to looking for them. Develop the “blessing habit” now and you will be able to find them if you find yourself in hard times.

3.Break the anger habit. It is a waste of valuable energy to rail against adverse events. Stuff happens. Get over it and move on.

4.Forget the “oh woe is me, why me?” mentality. Don’t take everything so personally. The universe has not singled you out for trouble. No one gets out of here without some trouble in his/her life. This is closely connected to:

5.Take responsibility for your own actions. If you are playing the blame game, knock it off. It is a total waste of energy and it won’t help you.

Life is a series of individual moments, weaving together as events. You have total control over how you perceive them. If you are in the habit of seeing the good this will carry you through hard times. Unfortunately we never really know what tomorrow will bring. The time to begin is now.