I wanna share a very powerful story with you about perception.
A wise farmer owned an elegant, beautiful horse. His neighbors often used to come over and admire the horse. But then one day, the horse ran away!
The neighbors came over to console the farmer. “What bad luck!” they said.
“Maybe…” Replied the farmer.
But on the next day, the horse returned with 3 other wild horses by its side. “What great luck!” the neighbors exclaimed.
“Maybe…” Replied the farmer.
The next day, the farmer’s son tried to ride one of the wild horses, but it bucked him off and the son broke his leg. He would have a limp for the rest of his life. “Oh no, what terrible luck!” The neighbors cried.
“Maybe…” Replied the farmer.
And the next day, the army came round drafting fit, young men for the war. On seeing the farmer’s son limping, they passed on by and didn’t take him away. “What incredible luck!” The neighbors cheered.
“Maybe…” Replied the farmer…
The point is that we can’t possibly predict or know how one situation will lead to the next, or how events will turn out as a result of what’s happened before it. We interpret things as good or bad, but often the things we initially think are “bad” turn out good.
Labeling things as “bad” and then worrying about them, or getting angry, or cursing everyone and everyone around us, is a complete waste of time and energy.
Every situation has “good” and “bad” parts to it, but “good” and “bad” are nothing more than labels that we’ve chosen to give something. So, instead of choosing to label something as “bad”, we can choose to focus on only the good. We can choose to look at everything as a blessing in disguise, and take the positives out of every situation and move forwards.
If we look back on some of the hardest and most painful situations that we’ve been through, it’s extremely likely that those situations have taught us some of the greatest lessons we’ve ever learnt, or shaped us into a far stronger person than we were before. Sure, we probably wouldn’t want to go through those situations again, but a hell of a lot of good will have come from them – if we choose to see it.
A great example of this
Hal Elrod – author of “The Miracle Morning” is a great example of this mindset. When he was a successful salesman in his early 20’s, he wrapped his car around a tree and was severely brain damage, but he used that to inspire him to go down his own path and become vastly successful.
Today, he has cancer, and again he’s actively using that as a source of inspiration to keep moving forwards. I’m on his email list and he’s quite open about his battle over the past few months. He chooses to feel gratitude, and he chooses to take all the good from the situation. It’s an incredible mindset to adopt.
Another example is Nick Vujicic, born with no arms or legs. He’s gone on to have an extremely successful career as a motivational speaker, by using something that most would interpret as a terrible disability, as his greatest asset. You can check out videos of him on YouTube, he’s got an amazing way of looking at the world.
So don’t be a slave to emotions, don’t let yourself get worked up or depressed by things that happen. We don’t know how anything will turn out, and we don’t have nearly enough information to know whether something is “bad”. So choose to see everything as good no matter how bad it seems, and watch how the way you see the world changes.
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I’ll speak to you soon,
Dan
Dan Holloway - Founder of Scrap the 9 to 5 Ltd
SFM Elite & DEA Black Member of the SFM/DEA
