Today is the next to last post in the series of posts that address Nine Keys to Success. Both today and tomorrow will serve to review and summarize the information shared over the past couple of weeks. When we use these Nine Keys as a Dream Building System, four concepts work together to form what I call The Four Givens – four life realities that we all experience on a daily basis. The importance of these Four Givens in this particular context lies in the power they possess to potentially sidetrack our efforts to Build Our Dreams and Live Outside the Box! What are those Four Givens?
- Life is a Struggle
- Lives are Shattered
- Life Goes On
- Relationships Do Continue
On the surface one might think that if these Four Givens have the power to sidetrack us from realizing our dreams then they must be ignored or at least altered. Nothing could be further from the truth! We must understand that these Four Givens are common life experiences and cannot be altered. We must also understand that spending appropriate amounts of time in these areas serves the purpose of helping us create a realistic life perspective.
More often than not I find that we allow ourselves to be unnecessarily controlled when we attempt to change these Four Givens. When this happens, we invariably become bogged down with life and experience difficulty moving forward with purpose. We become like the gerbil spinning its exercise wheel, expending great amounts of energy and accomplishing very little!
When we spend the best part of our mental, emotional, physical, relational and spiritual energy seeking to change that which cannot be changed, we have little left to proactively address our challenges. Spending appropriate amounts of time in each Given when something happens actually opens the door for us to purposefully move into action mode! We must learn to Acknowledge, Embrace and Evaluate what has happened. Often we must grieve and mourn in the process. Spending appropriate amounts of time dealing realistically with associated life events in the Four Givens actually prepares us to Consciously Step Out of the Four Givens and move forward.
Spend a few minutes contemplating information on the Four Givens.
- Which of these four tends to pull you into the gerbil wheel?
- How often does this happen?
- How long does it typically take you to extract yourself from useless rumination about altering something that cannot be altered?
- What one thing can you do to shift your focus and consciously move back into the Dream Building mode?
The lure of the gerbil exercise wheel draws us in almost imperceptibly. We find ourselves spinning round and round, remaining in the same relative place we got on. If you find yourself expending energy in useless activity, why not give this a shot:
- Slow down
- Stop chasing the uncatchable
- Take a deep breath
- Step out of the wheel
- Look around you
- Begin moving toward the exit
- Get ready to take back charge of your life
Tomorrow, we will summarize the Action Arenas in which our best living can be done! Until then . . .
Peace!
Mark E. Hundley
