Month: October 2008

Concluding this week’s topic:  Handling Difficulty, it is said:

FAILING TO PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL.

In times of difficulty, planning is more important than ever.  There is always a plan in our heads – maybe more than one version of a plan.  It’s when we take the time to refine and understand it that planning becomes most useful – especially in times of difficulty.

Other means of handling difficulty that have been suggested in classes this week include:

* Being light and injecting humor

* Maintaining fitness and personal habits at a high level

* Accessing spiritual and religious beliefs

* Taking a long-term view – in addition to being present to today

* Spend time in nature and allow it to restore you

This week, we’ve discussed topics about effectively handling difficulty, including:

* Recognizing that it may be “normal” to experience tough times * Being grounded and minimizing reactivity

* Finding the good with the bad – and the bad with the good

* Staying centered in the truth and avoiding drama

As Confucius said:

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

Today, explore your level of RESILIENCE, a very useful skill for handling difficulty.

This week’s topic:  Handling Difficulty.

There can be opportunity in difficulty.  Sometimes, we’re able to look back and see some good that occurred when tough things happened.  Often there are gifts in terrible situations.

Experiment with expanding your natural resilience to learn from all circumstances by routinely asking both questions:

What is the worst thing about this situation?

What is the best thing about this situation?

Developing and maintaining a balanced perspective is a key strategy in weathering difficulty.