Challenge or Opportunity: It’s our Choice

When I think back on my life and contemplate the most meaningful lessons I’ve learned, I find that it has been the most challenging people and situations that have led to the greatest learning. I believe this to be the case for the majority of people. In light of this, why is it that as human beings we are so resistant to this process? Why is it that we suffer in agony when faced with difficult situations or difficult people instead of embracing them as an opportunity for growth and learning? Imagine what it could be like if we could engage with every difficulty in our life from the perspective of our Sage mind: That is, that everything can be turned into a gift or opportunity. What would that look like? How would we be? How would we feel? The freedom and power that can be experienced in embracing this as a possibility, as a choice within our grasp, is truly immeasurable. And, it is not wishful thinking. It is real and attainable. 

How can this be achieved? By training our minds. However, believing that we can “just do it” or that we can use will power or force to achieve this, THAT is wishful thinking. It’s like someone who never runs signing up for a marathon and believing that they can simply command their legs to keep running. Just like a runner needs to train her body, we also need to train our minds. 

I’m sure those of you with a strong hyper rational saboteur are now trying to think of various circumstances where it would be nearly impossible to find a gift or opportunity. These could perhaps include the death of a loved one, or a situation where someone experiences physical or mental abuse. I absolutely agree that these types of situations are extreme, incredibly painful, and devastating. I am by no means dismissive of them. Yet, there are countless cases in history when individuals faced with these types of challenges or worse, have been able to turn them into a gift for the world and for themselves. However, for the purposes of this post, let us agree that I am referring to life’s “normal” challenges and difficulties. The ones that we encounter minute to minute and day-to-day: an angry patient, a disrespectful colleague, a misbehaving child, a disagreement with a spouse, etc.

So how is it that we can train our minds to engage with these type of challenges from the perspective of our Sage brain? Yup, you guessed it: Mental Fitness Training!

Mental Fitness training develops our three core brain “muscles”: 1. The Saboteur interceptor muscle 2. The Self-command muscle and 3. The Sage muscle(s). The saboteur interceptor allows us to recognize when we are reacting to a situation from the perspective of our saboteur neural pathways. The self-command muscle gives us the ability to choose to stop the thought processes and reactions being generated from those saboteur neural pathways, and instead engage our Sage muscles. Our Sage muscles are the neural pathways located in the areas of the brain that generate curiosity, innovation, creativity, empathy, love, joy, positivity, etc. This is where we can elicit the Sage perspective that everything can be converted into a gift or opportunity.

Just like it takes time for us to develop the ten domains of physical fitness: endurance, agility, flexibility, strength, power, speed, balance, stamina, coordination, and accuracy; it also takes time (and commitment) to develop these same domains of mental fitness. The reward is the immeasurable freedom of choice I mentioned previously. We develop the power to CHOOSE how we will be, how we will react at every moment and in every interaction, instead of being driven by our saboteurs.

If you are interested in learning more about Mental Fitness and how to integrate mental fitness training go to www.marpejourney.com.