Mindset Mastery: Roots To Prepare You

Photo Credit: Sue de Falastin | Soleoado

Hello friend,

It’s hard to believe that we’re already at the half way point of the year, isn’t it? Yesterday I was thinking about the personal goals I wrote in my journal six months ago and a few of the obstacles I’ve had since then. Today, I want to dive into a thought-provoking concept that changed the way I view obstacles, curve-balls, and simple life challenges.

The Dreamer’s Dilemma

Imagine for a moment that your dreams and aspirations are like precious seeds you’ve planted in a garden. You nurture them with hope, dedication, and consistent hard work. But as you water these dreams and check on their progress, life starts throwing in some unexpected “fertilizer” – and not the pleasant kind. It’s the kind of fertilizer that’s messy, tough, and it stinks!

All around you are other gardens filled with beautiful flowers while your garden seems stalled. You begin to wonder why things have to be so difficult and start feeling like life is so unfair. But what if this “fertilizer” is exactly what your dreams need to grow strong and resilient?

The Hidden Preparation

Like everything in nature, our dreams and aspirations need time to grow roots and those roots need to be strong in order for the seed to grow shoots that break through the ground.

Think about the most successful people you know. Do you think they achieved their dreams without facing any obstacles? Absolutely not. Every setback, every challenge, every sleepless night was a crucial part of their journey. They didn’t just reach their destination despite these hurdles; they reached it because of them.

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A Perspective Shift

Here’s a thought experiment that may help put this in perspective: next time you face a challenge, instead of asking, “Why is this happening to me?” try asking, “How is this preparing me for what I want?” It’s a subtle shift, but it can make all the difference. It transforms you from a passive victim of circumstance into an active participant in your own growth.

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A Real-Life Example

Every best-selling author has a story of the thousands of rejection letters they received before their first book was published. Every Oscar-winning actor has a story of the number of auditions that didn’t go well before the one breakout audition that did. Each ‘no’ or ‘rejection’ only brough them closer to their goal. What if they’d given up after the first rejection? The world would be a much darker place indeed!

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Growing Resilient Roots

When life throws challenges your way, it’s not to break you but to build you. Like a muscle that strengthens with resistance, your character, resilience, and wisdom grow through adversity. The tough times are what make you appreciate the good times even more. They’re what give you the strength to sustain success when you achieve it.

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For Your Journal Practice:

This week, embrace the idea that every experience, especially the tough ones, is preparing you for what you asked for. Reflect on where you are in your life, what your current struggles are and ask yourself: How is this experience equipping me for my future? What skills am I developing? What lessons am I learning? How is this building my character?

Here are a few journal prompts to help you dig a little deeper:

Reflect on a Recent Challenge:

• Write about a recent challenge you are facing now. Describe the situation in detail, including your emotions and reactions. Then, ask yourself: What skills or strengths is this challenge helping me develop? How might these new abilities be useful in achieving my future goals?

Connect Your Past to Your Present:

• Think back to a significant challenge you overcame in the past. How did it shape you or change your perspective? Reflect on how that experience has prepared you for something you are currently pursuing or dealing with. What lessons did you learn that are now proving valuable?

Identify Patterns and Lessons:

• List out several challenges you have faced in the past year. For each challenge, identify any common themes or recurring lessons. How might these patterns be pointing you towards areas where you need growth or preparation? What do these patterns reveal about what you need to learn or strengthen to achieve your long-term goals?

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Remember that when it comes to your personal journal practice you don’t need perfect sentences nor perfect punctuation. You can scribble, erase, cross out and be as messy as you’d like. Your journal is for you.

LET’S GO DEEPER

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If you are feeling stuck or stalled by life’s challenges maybe it’s time to go deeper to see how life is happening FOR you, not TO you.

Join me for my second annual Design The Life You Deserve Retreat: a 5 Day Journey to Renew, Refresh, and Reinvent Your Life happening September 17-22, 2024 in breathtaking Bacalar, Mexico.

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Design The Life You Deserve 2023 Retreat: Slowing down to put our vision into words in Bacalar, Mexico

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Our first information session is happening this week!

Want more info? Just click reply to join me on the private Zoom call!

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Wishing you an amazing week friend,

Be well. Be love(d). Be good to yourself,