“All successful people have the uncanny ability to focus on what is possible in a situation, what positive results come from it. No matter how much negative feedback they get from their environment, they think in terms of possibilities. They think that everything happens for a reason, and it serves them. They believe that every adversity contains the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.”
~ Anthony Robbins, Unlimited Power ~
In my recent book, “It Takes A Lot Of Sh*t To Make a Garden Grow,” I feature some amazing individuals who have faced and many are still facing some pretty hefty life-challenges. But it’s not just their challenges that I find so compelling. It’s how they each have risen above them to find more positive pathways and perspectives in which to grow their lives. They are beyond inspiring. I hope you take the time to “meet” them.
My blogs give me a chance to continue writing about others who are helping me learn to be a better “excrementalist,” as I’ve been called! I’d like you to meet three incredible people. Each symbolizes my firm belief that no matter what we’re dwelt with in this lifetime we all have the power to shovel out of crappy situations and ultimately create extraordinary new lives. One is a chef who lost his sense of taste. The other is a brain scientist who was nearly decimated by a stroke. And the third is a surgeon who was struck by a disease that crippled his fingers. Their stories are featured in a riveting article in the www.dailygood.org: Lessons from Those Who Lost…and Found, by Pavithra Mehta. Click here to read the entire article.
I’m always in awe of the power of the human spirit and what we’re truly capable of accomplishing, especially when we’re tested time and time again with mountainous “manuretia” that oftentimes seems insurmountable. Chronic pain. Disease. Accidents. Tremendous losses—physical, mental, spiritual. Homelessness. Cruelty. Divorce. Heartache. Blindness. The list is endless.
But every day I read about one more person or animal who not only survives but thrives against all odds. Their stories help me rebound again from whatever pit I’ve spiraled into and under. I truly believe this is Earth School and we’ve individually raised our hands to take on this crazy curriculum of learning—each with our own unique life agenda.
The key ingredient to success is sheer balance between the garbage and the garden. Both are reflections of choices that we ourselves make. Sure you probably didn’t plan for all that “you-know-what” when it hits the fan big time. But how you deal with it is how you inevitably grow beyond it. It’s up to you. All the mulch and compost and germinating seeds and endless acres of verdant possibilities are who you are. How rich and abundant your garden is depends on what you add to it and how much you put into it; how much you’re willing to shovel and grow a new life.
Whether you look at life as fertile ground for infinite possibilities, or as Pavithra Mehta sees it, a way to find what was seemingly lost—it is a twist of fate and perspective that can make or break us. The key, or the shovel is in our very own hands…
