Can a problem be an opportunity and a blessing, even if it is difficult and unpleasant? Problems are not random and meaningless events in our lives. What we think of as problems are really opportunities to learn something powerful about ourselves and life. Problems can actually help us to move our lives forward to the next level, get to know ourselves better and even get more out of life. Maybe if we could learn to see our problems differently, then we could get more from them.
I believe that we learn more from unpleasant experiences. Think about what you really learned when you felt happy. Now think about what you learned about yourself when you faced a problem. Take a person who lost his job and has to start over again. He probably has the chance to learn how to become resourceful. He probably learned more about himself: what kind of skills he had, what he like doing and what he don't like doing. He probably had to learn how to sell himself so that he could get the job. Losing his job may have been a wake-up call to go back to school and train for a totally new career. He would not have had the courage to leave his old job and go back the school.
Losing his job may have pushed him toward the path of starting a business. He may never have even considered going into business if he hadn't lost his job. See how losing a job can push someone out and up to a new, exciting level of life. Sure, there probably was anxiety, doubt, fear and uncertainty as this person moved from what is familiar to what is totally unknown. That's how problems help us to learn something new and wonderful about ourselves after we work through the unpleasantness of the situation.
Many of us grew up with the idea that problems are punishment. We got the idea that we are bad, sinful people who are always on the verge of receiving some kind of punishment. If we are dealing with a problem, then it must be punishment for something that we did wrong. When we see our problems as punishment, we are denying ourselves the chance to see the lesson inside of the situation. We blame and criticize ourselves when we believe problems are our punishment. We can't love ourselves unconditionally if we are stuck in anger and blame.
The idea of punishment means that we have done something wrong in someone else's eyes. Thinking of ourselves as being punished takes away from our personal power. We are allowing someone else or society to define how we should live rather than making those decisions for ourselves. We were never meant to be like others and live like everybody else. You have to create your own mold of how to live rather than fit into the mold that someone has built for you and everybody else. We are never wrong. Life isn't against us in any way. We aren't bad people in need of punishment. Therefore, problems are not any form of punishment.
Often, we believe that problems come to us because we did something wrong. If we had worked harder or made a smarter choice, then we wouldn't be dealing with this problem. This way of thinking goes back to feeling inadequate. We believe that we did something wrong which allowed the problem to develop. This way of thinking is lose-lose situation because we get caught up in emotionally blaming ourselves. We become the enemy and victim. We lose faith in ourselves. Our level of trust in ourselves drops every time we believe we did something to create a problem. It can be difficult to make a decision or even take risk without trust and faith. We can break out of this way of thinking.
Our culture teaches us that to be happy, we need to get rid of all our problems or avoid them all together. If we have a problem, then we can't be happy. Our happiness is under threat by any problem that may pop up tomorrow, next week or next month. We live in fear of when the next problem will show up and what it will be.
Our society has taught us to fear problems. Whatever we fear has power over us. If fear dominates our thoughts, we may be creating more of what we don't want in life. Our fearful thoughts become expectations. We are anticipating that the worse scenario will happen. Life always meets our expectations. It is wise not to live in fear of problems. We get more of whatever we fear in life. Fear clouds the mind and our judgment. We can't see the larger meaning of the problem if we are caught up in fear.
Welcome and bless your problems. That's right you heard me. Welcome your problems. Whatever you try to resist, you get more of that thing. Since most of us are wishing away problems out of fear, we are actually attracting and creating more problems. If we learn to bless the problem, we open our minds up to seeing the larger purpose of this problem. We now know that the problem isn't here to punish us. We trust that life is really working for us, so whatever comes to us will only help us in the long run. Every person and every experience that we encounter is really a teacher for us. We accept that working through some discomfort is part of the process to finding the lesson. Without discomfort, we are not growing as people or growing our lives to the next level.
Keep in mind that I'm not telling you to seek out problems so that you can grow. I'm simply pointing out that a problem has a larger purpose other than to make us suffer or feel miserable. Ask yourself, "What is this problem trying to teach me?" We can accept the discomfort with grace because we know that joy is on the other side of it. We trust that we will be stronger and wiser for having worked through this problem.
When we can welcome and bless our problems, we truly understand that this problem is here for a short time. We are not defined by the problem today nor will we be tomorrow. We are larger than the problem. Our lives are larger than the problem. The problem will be overcome and worked out in a way that benefits us always. We always benefit from our problems. As long as we believe that we benefit from our problems, our minds are open to receiving lessons. Remember our thoughts create our reality. It is unwise to allow problems to get the best of us.
We can willingly open ourselves up to receive the blessings from a particular problem. When we do this, we allow the problem to work its miracles in our lives without fighting it. We allow this problem to help us grow stronger and wiser. We allow this problem to help us develop new personality traits that we didn't think we had within us. We allow this problem to unlock new creativity within us that helps us see a new way of life before us. This problem may temporarily close doors, but it will later open many more doors for us than it ever closed. This problem may force us to step away from what is familiar in our lives, but we trust that we can survive and thrive in this new realm of the unknown. We may experience painful losses when this problem comes into our lives, but we know for sure that we will gain much more than we ever lost. This problem may take us to a low point in our lives, but we know that we will rise up even higher than where we were before. We will reach new heights, if we allow ourselves to see our problems as opportunities to learn. There is no blame or shame with having problems. What we think of as problems are really our blessings.
Affirmations: I accept all of life's blessings. I am grateful for my life's teachers. I am ready to learn and grow as a person.
Copyright©2006 Jeannine Robinson All Rights Reserved