Gird your Mind with the Power to Overcome Challenges

Often when we look in retrospect at our reactions to great challenges, the correct response may appear obvious, but therein lies one of the great ironies of life! As some of us prepare our response to great challenges... the words we want to say and what we know is right...suddenly become difficult to remember... That valley seems longer... and more lonesome when Fear, doubt, physical or mental insecurity, or any number of valid/invalid reasons cause us to struggle ... and delay coming forth with what we know is right! It's in there...I know it's in there...you know it's there, but the more it stalls in some "deep recess" of our mind, the more reactive we become. It matters not whether the reason is valid/invalid... what matters is that when we choose to react with a less than proactive response, we delay or, even worse, kill any desirable resolution to the challenge. The challenge, at that point then, continues to be a problem and, more often than not, magnifies... and grows to be a much larger problem!

If you can identify with this dilemma... and lived through it...then you, my friend, are familiar with The 2nd Universal Truth... What is it? It is simply that Things are almost never near as bad... or near as good as they first appear! You are not the first person to experience great challenges and you will not be the last! There is no such thing as "The Rest of the World... Vs... You!" ...and you are not alone or isolated in this struggle all by yourself! -- Now...you may feel that way or design it that way, but in truth, "No man (or woman) is an Island!" You don't h ave to walk that lonesome valley by yourself.

Many have been there before us to "face the same music" and experienced the same angst, indecision and fear that can lead to retreat, defeat and a less than acceptable response! When you find yourself balking at what's right... remember...There is nothing new under the sun... and, Thankfully,... there is hope, there is help and there is good news!

I believe that reviewing those stories of inspired and determined men and women acting positively in the face of crisis... can inspire and empower us... and help us to embrace the power to choose our own proactive solution in our time of greatest need!

The best news is... that we can draw upon many examples that inspire us and can arm ourselves with the thrilling knowledge of The 3rd Universal Truth...

It's perhaps the most important one because once we fully buy into it...the battle shifts in our favor and we conquer that nemesis which is generally considered to be our greatest enemy... Ourselves! It goes like this: If we are still "above ground", reading this now and facing any dilemma created by "great challenges" in our lives...the final score has not yet been posted... therefore we have here and now the POWER to CHOOSE... the game plan... and score the winning points before the final horn signals that the game is over! The only way you can lose this game... is to give up and quit! Remember...It's never too late to choose and act upon the right response.! History tells us, time and again, that many great crisis/challenges have been resolved... at the last minute... and in the darkest hour...and/or as a splendid epiphany!

So... Yes...we can... (and we must!)... harness, embrace and cultivate the almighty power to choose our own destiny! That must begin here and now with a conscious decision to "gird" our minds with courage, strength, commitment and determination and to act positively... with a "planned" response, but above all else... with a response that vows................... to never, ever give up... and never, ever give in!

Dr. Viktor Frankl, mentioned below, validates this universal truth with a statement from his amazing and empowering book, Man's Search for Meaning, "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!"

To conquer and parry the double-edged sword that a crisis will thrust at us... we must understand and make integral to our response... The 4th Universal Truth.

To do that requires that we understand the difference between the terms PROACTIVE Vs REACTIVE!

Most of us are taught how we respond to the traumatic stress of great challenges from the example set by the significant leaders in our life... our parents, teachers, coaches, pastors, etc.... When that example is reactive, those leaders respond directly to what happens to them, rather than deciding in advance how they want to behave. That does not stand up as an excuse for us to do things the same way! If we are to make a difference in this world... and if we are to be remembered as being a part of the solution... and not a part of the problem... then...We must recognize and counter our urges to be reactive... and instead, train ourselves to respond to our world proactively!

What does pro-active really mean? From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Ironically, the 1946 book Man's Search for Meaning brought the word "Proactive" to the wider public domain.

The author, Austrian existential neuropsychiatrist Dr. Viktor Emil Frankl, used the word PROACTIVE to describe a person who took responsibility for his or her life, rather than looking for causes in outside circumstances or other people.

Frankl stressed the importance of strengthening the foundations of character: courage, perseverance, individual responsibility and awareness of the existence of choices, regardless of the situation or context! Much of this theory was formed in Nazi concentration camps where Frankl lost his wife, mother, father and family, but, still he decided that even under those worst circumstances, people can make and find meaning.

Let's confirm this then as The 4th Universal Truth... tempered and proven in the horror of a concentration camp:

We must approach all forms of crisis and challenge ... and life itself... armed with a PROACTIVE mindset!

At the time he wrote it, he was the editor and publisher of the Anderson Independent Newspaper in Anderson, SC. His editorials were always quality reads like this one, and I later learned he had been diagnosed with lung cancer prior to writing this. John was one of those who paved the way for the rest of us and whose example we would hope to emulate. More about him here: John Ginn He writes:

"Our lives are made richer when bad stuff happens. Tough challenges can help us be more effective. And they help sweeten the joys of life.

Wise men have been urging this message on us for centuries. and there are many examples proving their correctness. But when heavy challenges seem to be coming at you from all sides, it's tough to convince yourself that all that bad stuff really is enriching your life. Several business and personal challenges have come my way in recent weeks, and I've found it useful to remind myself that these challenges can enrich my life.

It has helped me, for instance, to recall the story of the fourth grade boy whose teacher sent him home from school with a note telling his mother he was "incapable of learning." He couldn't concentrate. He couldn't read well. And he couldn't keep up with his classmates. Clearly this was a challenge, both for the boy and his mother. There was no other school available, so the mother decided to try to teach him herself. She was a farmer's wife with no training as a teacher, and her early efforts were frustrating for both of them. But they kept trying, every day for two years.

Somewhere in that process his young intellect got turned on. His imagination was ignited. And his confidence and determination blossomed. That stint with his mother was the last formal training he ever received. But it got the job done. He went on to have more physical impact on your life and mine than any other individual. Thomas Alva Edison, the boy "incapable of learning," was awarded 1,137 patents__more than anyone before or since. Clearly his life was enriched by a major challenge.

Another of my favorites is the story of Wilma Rudolph. She had tough challenges starting with the instant she arrived in this world. She showed up four months premature. Her parents lived in a shack in the backwoods of Tennessee. Wilma wasn't expected to survive infancy...but she did. When she was four she had double pneumonia and scarlet fever. Most folks don't survive that combination, but she did. However, it left her with a paralyzed and useless left leg. The doctor told her she would have to wear an iron brace for the rest of her life.

What the doctor didn't count on was Wilma's mama. Mama told Wilma she could do whatever she wanted to if she tried hard enough and long enough. Happily, Wilma believed mama, not the doctor. At age 9, Wilma quit using the brace and spent the next four years learning to walk without a limp. When she was 13, she got this crazy idea about entering a race at her high school. She came in last--so far behind the others that folks were embarrassed.

They begged her never to do that again. but Wilma entered every race they had...And she came in last every time. After many races, one day she came in next to last. And after many more, the day came when she won a race. And from then on, she won every race she ran, including three for which she won Olympic Gold Medals. So it has also been useful for me to remind myself of Wilma and her mother and how they enriched their lives by dealing with some really tough challenges.

I've also found it useful to reread a statement I've had posted in my office for several years . It says: "Be thankful for the troubles of your job. They provide about half your income. Because if it were not for the things that go wrong, the difficult people you have to deal with and the problems and unpleasantness of your working day, someone could be found to handle your job for half of what your are being paid.
It takes intelligence, resourcefulness, patience, tact and courage to meet the troubles of any job. That is why you hold your present job. And it may be the reason you aren't holding an even bigger one. If all of us would start to look for more troubles and learn to handle them cheerfully and with good judgment as opportunities rather than irritations, we would find ourselves getting ahead at a surprising rate. For it is a fact that there are plenty of big jobs waiting for men and women who aren't afraid of the troubles connected with them."

Finally, I find it useful to recall a letter Dr. Norman Vincent Peale tells about receiving from his son after the younger Peale had run his first marathon at age 44. The letter said: "I made the marathon -- the full 26.2 miles in Richmond on October 26 -- running steadily but not fast for about four hours and 15 minutes. Three thousand entered the race. One thousand finished. I was number 600 among those who finished. Needless to say , my feet hurt, my legs ached, my stomach was empty, my energy was gone and my mind was mush. Yet I felt this exhilaration that was powerful and hard to describe. I wouldn't have missed it for anything!" The senior Peale used this statement from his son to make this point.
"You see, you're never going to have exhilaration in this life unless you have struggle and difficulty -- unless you pit yourself against something that is very, very hard." So if some very, very hard stuff has come your way recently, I hope these reminders help you keep in mind that struggles are the prelude for life's sweetest exhilaration. Mulling these reminders with you has been a good reminder of that for me."