Carpe Diem

Life is filled with tests. Lifelong beliefs can be thrown into chaos when you need them the most to sustain you. They seem to scream at you, "Do you believe all the things you say you believe in?"

Fortunately I can say yes. So far. I am currently being tested on many fronts; values, purpose, ethics, integrity, spirituality, physicality and resilience. I am trying to spy the phoenix. I am not sure the ashes are doing their thing at the moment.

I know several people who are experiencing the same confusion.  

Yet every-time I gaze back over my shoulder and revisit a previous 'testing time', I can honestly say I understand why everything happened as it did. Everything. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Behind every ounce of resilience lies purpose. If you don't have purpose, you don't know how to motivate yourself forward. I have asked the question this week, "How can it be that when you give something 1,000%, it still seems that you aren't getting there? That it's just not enough?" I know the purist mathematicians are cringing at the moment - there is no such thing as 1,000%. We literary creatures would like to point out that 100% doesn't quite evoke the same emotional response. 

As it becomes increasingly obvious that uncertainty is a consistently certain state, and that life can turn on a five cent piece at any time, what is it that we can hold onto to ground ourselves and keep us from spiralling out of control?  

The most obvious answer is each other. Followed closely by our purpose, our values, our ethics and our integrity. These qualities don't become obvious overnight. There is much work involved in examining and diving deep into your behaviours, acknowledging each and every one of your perceptions as just those; your own perceptions. And at times your limiting beliefs. 

As you go through the week and into the weekend, ask yourself about the last time your were truly tested. What was the armour you pulled on? Who was the sage you went to for advice? Where was it that you finally found your peace?

That is the place you need to have ready to support you through the tests that lie in front of you. As you surpass them and move forward, then glance back, you will do so with the confidence that you have taken each experience and maximised its potential.