My heart sank to my knees in a moment of disappointment. I finally had an opportunity to teach a seminar at a bookstore. For over a month, I had been preparing and rehearsing a seminar series on prosperity for a local bookstore. Everything fell apart when I contacted the store a week before my scheduled seminar to confirm everything. To my surprise, the bookstore personnel informed my seminar was not on their calendar of upcoming events. I was angry and disappointed about the several weeks that I spent rehearsing this seminar. To make matters worse, I had endured three other major disappointments that month.
I was in an emotional tailspin as I tried to figure out the meaning of my disappointments and decide what I was going to do next. After some self reflection, I realized that my opportunity really began once the bookstore seminar fell through. I was free to set my sights higher now. I could create an audio seminar for posting on the internet. I could reach even greater numbers of people by an audio internet seminar than I could doing a seminar for a small audience at the bookstore. My seminar idea had just grown larger. The bookstore opportunity had actually prepared me for something greater in the end.
There is always something to learn from every disappointment. Sometimes, we may not be ready for whatever we are seeking. We may need to learn a little more or prepare in a way that we do not understand now. A disappointment is not an ending, but it could be a new beginning. We might need to go about our goals in a different way. We might need to aim a little higher. Disappointment can be temporary. Our opportunity may disappear now, but it could come back in the future in another form.
When things fail to materialize the way we expect, it is easy to assume the worse. Truthfully, it is difficult to know if a disappointment is good or bad until we have a chance to take a larger view of the situation. If we are wallowing in pity and anger when something falls short, we may miss the hidden opportunity to take our work to a higher level or seize a new direction.
In the short term, we may feel frustrated, angry and hurt that we fell short of getting what we want. However, in the long term, we may be better served by not getting what we want because we are now free and open to move on to other goals. Sometimes, the timing is all wrong for us, but we simply do not understand it. In other cases, our goals may have been too small. Perhaps, the Creator has a larger vision or plan for us.
Think about times in your life when you faced disappointment. Did you allow yourself to find the opportunities inside of it to take yourself to a higher level? If not, I challenge you to begin to see disappointments in your life from a fresh perspective. Try not to judge the disappointment as good or bad. Have an open, curious attitude about every disappointment. Be curious about what opportunities are now present for you. Be willing to consider new ideas.
Try not to get emotionally locked into the anger and frustration part of disappointment. Realize that disappointment is a natural part of life and it is only temporary. You can overcome it. Put your emotions aside and evaluate the situation. See if you can salvage something positive from it. Look at what you can take from the situation and continue to work with it. Uncover the opportunity hidden inside each disappointment and use that opportunity to move to a higher level.
Copyright©2007 Jeannine Robinson All Rights Reserved