Are You At the Mercy of Externals?

“Recession? Now’s the Perfect Time” – that was the heading for my newsletter. I had started off with:

“Do you read the papers and listen to the news? And if you do, how much do you buy into it?

I haven’t read the papers for years now and I seldom watch or listen to the news, but when I do, I let it pass over me like water off a duck’s back. I don’t get sucked into the drama.

“Neither do many other people. Last weekend, I took a picture down to our local picture framing shop. While we were talking, I asked Gary, the owner, if they were busy. “Oh! We’re so busy. I really don’t buy into this whole recession thing,” he said.

“Do you?”

I then went on to talk about generating Multiple Streams of Income, encouraging my readers to consider this as a way forward.

One of my readers subsequently wrote: “Feel the need to make a comment – could be because you are in Australia but if you say you don’t read the papers and query the recession because of one man in Australia who is busy I think you are in danger of giving a misleading impression.  I know you as an aware, caring individual.  There are many people in UK out and about spending money, eating in restaurants etc still but there are a significant number in real trouble for whom the recession is not just a media hype.”

Yes yes yes! That is EXACTLY the point. “There are still many people out and about spending money etc” but most people buy into the group mindset, allowing themselves to be led by what other people say, what the news says, what the government says, what the “research” says. And for every single piece of research, for every single piece of opinion, for every one person’s experience, there is the exact opposite that also exists. Which one do you want to listen to and follow? Would you prefer to listen to the nay-sayers and then say, “See, they were right and so was I”? Or would you prefer to follow the smaller group who are getting on and doing their own thing and then to say, “Most people were wrong and I was right.”

I would hasten to add that this is not about being wrong or right. It is all part of our life experience. There ARE many people who are having a hard time. There are many people who’ve lost their jobs. And then there are also many people who still have jobs and many people who are now paying half of what they used to pay on their mortgages because mortgage rates have more than halved. No, it isn’t necessarily easy to get yourself out from a rut when you’re in it, but here’s the thing! If you are in a rut, you have the resources to get yourself out of there if you choose!

Focus on the nay-sayers and you’ll stay in the rut. Dip out of the news, decide what you want for yourself and take steady action towards it and give yourself a chance to get there. There are many rags-to-riches stories that any one of us can find on the internet or magazines, there are also many stories of people who’ve “had it all”, then lost it and made it back again, there are stories about people who are still doing well today despite the economy…and if you choose, sure, you’ll find all the other tragic and sad stories too.

Yes, I empathise, but I won’t stay there. Why? Because in empathising, I bring my own level of vibration to that level of tragedy and sadness, and in that place, I’d be useless for helping anyone. I know! In my early days of working with my coaching clients, I used to empathise with their not having enough time in their corporate days to get things done. On that particular topic, I wasn’t much good to my clients then because I understood their position so well, that I’d get into the same boat as them, energetically speaking, and I couldn’t help them get out of the quagmire into something different.

Do I feel strongly about this? You bet I do!

The time that we are in is unprecedented. It is OUR time to re-evaluate what we want from life, then make our own inner changes and then take the external action to make our lives how we want it to be. Empathizing and criticizing what is happening right now won’t get us there. I was listening to the radio a couple of days ago and heard a panel of eminent speakers in the economic world now talking about reforms that need to be made to the banking system so that we don’t get into this same mess again.

Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created it.”

If things are not going well, examine yourself – what is the thinking that is creating this? THAT is what needs to be changed. And THEN, the externals will change.

Let me know what you think. Post a comment.

Tagged as: mindset