Is that what you are saying now?
Quick question, how will that affect the next four years for you? Are you saying that this event is now going to prevent you from achieving your goals and your results?
“No, Dr. Matt, wrong title for the blog post. The Right Person Won The Election!” Good for you! It has been a week, and what is different today? Anything? Has he made your life better?
Here is an Empowered idea: Why don’t you become the President in your own life?
It is called taking charge of your results. Waking up in the morning and realizing that if you want something in your life, there is only one person to talk to (Hint: Look in the mirror).
I have lived through a bunch of presidents and I have seen various reactions to them. Blame for the economy, blame for unemployment, blame for everything. I have seen people look back at a previous president and change their perspective on the situation.
At the time, the person was awful. Ten years later, wow that guy was great!
More importantly, I have seen successful, empowered people continue to thrive under all of these presidents. I have seen people make money, become healthy, and have wonderful relationships regardless of who is in office.
In other words, I have seen people “deal” with the results of an election.
Do I believe there is an external world and that we need to interact with it? Of course! There is an ocean. Water is wet. Having said that, some people don’t like the beach, and others love the beach.
What does that mean?
It means that your experience of the beach is entirely in your mind. And, since it is in your head, you have a certain level of control over that experience. Here is a simple way that I know this is true: Have you ever had an opinion about someone or something that changed over time?
Ten years ago, there was a person I used to really dislike. I had to work with him and I just could not stand being around him. But, something changed, and we began to work well together. We are still friends even though we don’t work together anymore.
And, now that I am friends with him, I even think of the “bad” times as not so bad. In fact, they are kind of funny…
Around the world
I am very fortunate that I get to travel around the world and see so many different cultures. I love Italy. It is a place that I am going back to with the family next year.
Did you hear that Italy is about to implode? I did! It is awful there with the government and unemployment. At least that is what I have been told. However, I have never seen it to that extreme.
I have met restaurant owners that are so happy and love life! I have made friends there that run their own company and raise their daughter with joy and love. In fact, I have seen this almost everywhere I have traveled.
Now, I love where I live. We have so much opportunity here that is not available in other places. I have been to places where the hope of running water was a daily focus. That put things into perspective for me.
Gain some perspective
I have found it helpful to know what matters to me in my life and to keep that as my focus. Here is my focus: Wife, kids, family, friends, students and so on.
Watching a news program that gets ratings by spouting negativity does not put things into perspective for me. Listening to someone else’s baggage about their life or view of the country does not help my focus.
So I don’t watch or listen to those things.
My suggestion is that you make a list of what is important to you and what is going to ground you. Make that your priority focus. See if you can begin to eliminate negativity around you over the next week. Start to focus on what you want rather than what you don’t want. And finally, wake up each morning and bring in a goal for that day.
Wrapping up
So you say you don’t like our President. In ten years, maybe you will change your mind. Maybe you won’t. Or let’s say you love our President. In ten years, maybe you won’t! That is irrelevant for our discussion here. There are people that will still live and love life during the next four years. And there will be some that don’t.
The choice is yours.
Mahalo,
Dr. Matt
Photo by Vince Alongi
