Tag: positivity

Freedom To Choose

I know from experience that it’s not easy to be content with your circumstances. In a job, that you feel that your skills are not being utilised. In a relationship or friendship where you’re taken for granted. I’ve been there and ‘worn the tee-shirts’. I had to be patient with myself, l had to have a strong mind to find contentment in my circumstances.

Then suddenly out of the blue my circumstances began to change. In the mist of chaos, things can and do change. Life can improve dramatically. I wasn’t acting proud in the mist of my circumstances, rather, l had to learn to be content until things were able to change. Sometimes we are placed in circumstances to see if our deepest inner most attitudes would change.

 

WHY IT’S TIME TO CHANGE THE JOB

Just recently l was in conversation with someone that had been working in the same organisation for 15 years, and had been offered a new job in another. He mentioned the reason for the change was that ‘it was time to change the job’, and that he was ‘no longer enjoying the role’. I was delighted for him as the move would have meant a change for him, his family, friends and even his colleagues.

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN IT’S TIME TO CHANGE YOUR JOB?

You know when you have outgrown your job because you are at the point of moaning and complaining continuously about it. The drive and enthusiasm is no longer there. Whilst you continue to moan about it, that negative energy affects your family and friends, irritates your colleagues as they too are tired of hearing you whining. It may get to the stage where your colleagues either try as much as possible to avoid conversations to do with work, or find ways of totally blocking out your continuous whining. What constant whiners do is to try to make you feel their frustration, in the hope that you will help them in doing something about it. We all have to tend to our own overgrown lawns eventually, only that some of us may not be quite ready yet, so therefore able to put-up with it a lot longer. It is time for change!

WHEN THE WHINING CONTINUES

Then you get home and the whining continues. Your complaining about the job, your colleagues, the travelling, how stressed you are. You may not even realise that you are constantly complaining about anything and everything. When we are unhappy it is those that are closest to us that bear the brunt of our frustration. You get easily irritated, angry, sulking, short tempered. This is all about your dissatisfaction and not anyone else’s. It’s time for change!

WHEN THE ‘SELL-BY-DATE’ HAS EXPIRED

When you have exceeded your ‘sell-by-date’. Somewhere during the time, you took the job until now, you probably set yourself some personal goals and targets to meet. One of them may have been to only stay for a period of time. You have now exceeded that period, you are still there, and worse still no longer enjoying it. It is time for change!

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

When the question ‘what’s in it for me’ mind-set arises – it is time for change. When you initially started the job you had an enthused mind-set – one that was eager to learn etc. The ‘what’s in it for me’ attitude has developed because the role no longer fits or serves your needs – you have outgrown a job that once appealed to you. When you are given tasks to complete you may find yourself scrutinising it to find out ‘what’s in it for you’. If there is nothing there any longer for you, there may well be for someone else in the role. It is time for change!

‘SHRINKING TO FIT’

When you are ‘shrinking to fit’ in your career, you are likely to be ‘shrinking’ in other aspects of your life too. We all have to make adaptations in our lives that enables growth, otherwise, we become static or feel trapped. The stimulus related to the job is now dissipated. If there are no other opportunities within the organisation, it is those that are brave enough that will make the change and leave. It’s time for change!

Change is an individual choice which when prolonged will inevitably affect other aspects of your life. Change is a positive development pushing you beyond your ‘comfort zone’.

So you can now understand the depth of my enthusiasm that he had got a new job.

 

CLEANING UP YOUR ACT

Just as we frequently clean up our homes, we also need to clean up our lives.  There are times we really need to get rid of stuff that no longer serves us – and be unafraid to let go. You may find all sorts of reasons or excuses not to do this, and continue in allowing your internal dialogue to keep that very tight hold over you.  

Cleaning up our homes is physical, whilst cleaning up our lives is spiritual.  Cleaning up our lives spiritually is far deeper, as it is cleaning up our hearts – the lies, the hate, the envy, the rivalry, the pain – those bad thoughts about others.  Cleaning out those very things that clogs up our hearts, preventing us from progressing. You have to make it important enough for your mental, emotional and physical well-being. It makes no essence in fussing about your home, when yet your heart is filled with clutter. 

When things begin to hinder our lives, we need to consider decluttering our homes as well as our lives – in cleaning up your act.

RUN YOUR OWN RACE

Most competitive runners have been taught to ‘run their own race.’ This means having a strategy or plan which involves not allowing other runners to dictate their pace.

On the other hand, there are also those non-athletes we are aware of, who continually allow others to dictate their pace of life. They are too afraid to run their own race, worried about what others might think or say. Some are in constant need of validation, comparing and competing with others. They are more focused on what others are doing. Find out what makes you unique, concentrate, and run your own race. If you can’t run, then walk! Also, whilst you are doing this – stay in your own lane.

Whilst running your own race, you also need to find your own rhythm and steady pace. Distractions occur when you are not running your own race. Remember nothing good happens when you are continually comparing and competing with others. You may find yourself losing pace, and eventually unable to keep up anyway! Being outrun by the faster and more focused runners who are ‘doing their thing’, and undeterred by you. Running your own race means focusing on you, and doing your absolute best each time. Someone else’s achievement is about them, and has nothing to do with you. 

Do not forget that your greatest support shall always come from your inner guide. Stay focused on your race, and watch and listen out for signs that tells you which path to follow. All you need to do is to trust, and allow your inner guide to be your strength and source. Your inner guide will encourage you to run your own race, to keep on  going and moving forwards, until you eventually across that finishing line.

No King is saved by the size of his army

Some of us are so engrossed in trying to make things happen or lamenting over things we do not have.  Continually searching for those things that we think may meet our needs, and make us happy.  The more we search the unhappier we become.

Only recently, I was in conversation with a commuter, who shared with me that they were going blind in both eyes.  Having gone through multiple consultations, unconventional medicines, they are now certain, that their problem is ‘beyond Science’.

Does it really take such stark conversations to remind ourselves how fortunate we are?  I say ‘Yes, most definitely’.  It certainly made me stop to think yet again, how ungrateful I can be.

This is a stark reminder, to practise sincere gratitude more regularly, for those very things that help us to function daily, such as our ears, our eyes, our mouth, our legs, or even a sound mind (as so many people in our communities are losing theirs).

We really have a lot to be grateful for, as ‘No king is saved by the size of his army’.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.