378 I See The Bigger Picture | January 2018 Saturday Week 2_

Synergistic Saturdays-#369  January 13th The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast I See The Bigger Picture “I think when you work on fossils, and you realize that a species is there, and it's abundant for quite a long period of time, and then at some point it's no longer there - and so, when you look at that bigger picture, yes, you realize that either you change and adapt, or, as a species, you go extinct.”~Louise Leakey I was trying to think about what to say for this podcast, and I was having trouble thinking of where I’d like to take it. I sat in front of my computer for 20 minutes, at least, listening to music to help calm my mind. When all of the sudden I was startled as I heard a small guttural growl. I jumped a little and looked to the left of my desk. I saw one of my dogs, Storm sitting upright, staring me down. It was one of those moments I’ve heard parents talk about who wake up in the middle of the night and their child is staring at them in the dark…and it creeps the hell out of them, as it looks like a scene from a horror movie. But I saw Storm’s kind eyes and knew she wanted something. I was perplexed at what she was doing because I’d just let the dogs out, and then fed them dinner. But Storm kept staring at me. I thought, well, she might want my usual hugs I give to all the dogs. So I got down and gave her a hug, and petted her for a bit to see if she just wanted attention. She quieted down. So I got back to my desk and went back to work. I then heard that same guttural growl again in the family room. So I went out to investigate what was going on. I had an idea what Storm was doing, but I went out to investigate. And when I got out there, my hunches were validated. Storm loves to whine and cry when she feels someone is laying in her bed. And Jolene had snaked Storm’s usual nighttime hangout place. I have more than enough beds for the dogs, but Storm for some reason won’t lay down, and she cries until one of the dogs moves from where she thinks she deserves to lay. The reason I bring this story up, is because we are like my dog Storm in our lives at times. We’re so focused on not getting what we think we deserve that we’ll only see the problem instead of the whole picture. We’re so close to the problem that we aren’t able to see all the possibilities of greatness in our lives. Storm gets so focused on—this is my spot, my bed, that I’ll be upset and whine until I get my way. And while whining isn’t a good long-term plan for getting what you want, it sometimes does help Storm. She usually gets her way if she whines long enough, not because a dog moves from her spot, but I move the dog for her, so she will finally be quiet. In our lives, we have gotten so accustomed to airing what bothers us, that it feels normal to talk about problems. We’ve become like those old people in nursing homes who only talk about what medicines they are taking, what sickness they are dealing with, or what aches and pains are bothering them. And while that sounds comical…it has become our reality. We get on facebook and talk about how sick we are, we talk about the issues we’re having at our jobs or at school, and we talk about the sadnesses in our lives. And I think it’s good to share things with people, but we air EVERY problem to the world…that we get comfortable talking more about problems than finding better things to focus on. I do believe in talking about what bothers us, but there’s a difference by talking something out to find an answer rather than just talking to complain. And I will keep reminding you of my favorite life coaching saying, so that it becomes a part of our subconscious… “we don’t get what we want, we get what we focus on.” When you can begin focusing more on what’s going right in your life, you’ll find that you not only attract more good in your life, but you create more good in your life. And by being active in seeing the good, you become more creative, you become more open to different scenarios and possibilities…and you actually become happier. Life is like a bicycle wheel. Think of the spokes in that wheel as the events in your life. Now, when one of those spokes breaks—it seems like the end of the world. It seems like things don’t, or can’t fit, together like they should. It feels final, it feels devastating, it feels uncomfortable… but what I just said was… “it feels.” I didn’t say it was the end of the world. Because when you step back from the problem, you see that your life wasn’t about that one spoke or even a few of those spokes—your life was the whole wheel. And within that wheel, all those spokes keep the whole tire supported and still able to move. When you are able to step back and see that each event, each process, of life isn’t the end of something, but actually a piece of the whole process, it brings truth into your life. You see that it’s all connected, not determined on thing to make you happy. I spent so much of my life focusing on the problem that I made the problem bigger than it was. I stressed myself out more than I should’ve, and thus I made the situation worse. So when you’re feeling like you’re dying from sickness, when you feel like it’s the end of the world after you’be been fired or laid off, when you feel you can’t go on after you go through a breakup or when you get a bad review or negative comment about who you are… take it in. Step back to get some room to breathe, take some deep breathes and find the calm within the moment, and take a look at the bigger picture. See the beautiful intertwining of life, in ALL the spokes of your life, not just the one spoke that feels broken. Today’s Personal Commitment:What spokes feel broken at the moment in your life? And why do they feel like the end of the world to you…or at least a major problem for you? Write your answers down; and then step away from the paper for an hour, a day, or even a week. Come back to it when you’ve had time to step back and breathe from those problems…and then see how you can observe the bigger picture. Write down: 1) The opportunity in the hard events. 2) Write down the lessons you can learn from these harder events. 3) Write down what you eventually want to get from making it through these events. 4) And then write down the steps you need to take to make that happen. The problem isn’t the broken event in your life. The problem is the way you see the problem. So let’s begin seeing our problems less as problems…and more like stepping stones helping us get to the other side. We think that a wall is between us and the dreams we have in our lives, but the dream and where you are right now really aren’t all that different. They’re the same person; except the better version, the dream version of yourself, just decided that their problems weren’t their focal point. So they looked past them, and found a way to get past them…in an efficient, deliberate, positive manner. I See The Bigger Picture   Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together, Personal Development Life Coach- Chris O'Hearn Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247     Music by: - Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. - I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide