Monday Morning Wake Up Call

Monday Morning Wake Up Call: Your Motivation, Inspiration, & Direction for the Week Ahead

Obstacles and Opportunities How was your week? Any obstacles? It’s always great when our week is obstacle free, but that’s not always the case. It’s not the obstacle, but how you handle the obstacle that counts.  I am reminded of the story of the King who wanted to see how his people would handle obstacles. This king had a huge boulder placed in the middle of a road. Then he had his most trusted advisor hide nearby to see if anyone would try to remove the gigantic rock from the road. The first people to pass by were some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers. Rather than moving it, they simply walked around it. A few loudly blamed the King for not maintaining the roads. Not one of them tried to move the boulder. Finally, a peasant came along. His arms were full of vegetables. When he got near the boulder, rather than simply walking around it as the others had, the peasant put down his load to move the stone to the side of the road. It took a lot of effort but he finally succeeded.  Under the bolder was a purse, lying in the road where the boulder had been. The peasant opened the purse and discovered that it was stuffed full of gold coins and a note from the king. The king’s note said the purse’s gold was a reward for moving the boulder from the road. The king showed the peasant what many of us never understand: every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition. Something to Think About Think about your past. How many times has something happened that seemed like a disaster, at the time, but it forced you to take an alternative path, or do something that you would not have otherwise done? Now looking back, that obstacle or situation had a positive impact on your life. You are who you are today, because of those obstacles. Weekly Action Plan This week, when things don’t go as planned, don’t panic! Take a breath and look for an alternate plan, remembering that it might actually work out better. Words of Wisdom You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind. Joyce Meyer Your smile will give you a positive countenance that will make people feel comfortable around you. Les Brown Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them. Jack Canfield “Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” – Paulo Coelho “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.”  – Edith Wharton