It's All In The Way We Look At It!

NHC Newsletter
February 29, 2004

Have you ever noticed that weather reports, on T.V. or radio, are often slanted to a negative point of view? The weather is nearly always extremely cold, and we are advised to stay indoors, unless it's absolutely necessary to leave the house, or much too hot, windy, wet, cloudy, etc. to be in any way enjoyable! On the rare occasions that the weather is not being reported as bad in some way, it's reported as extremely good!

You might ask, "what's wrong with the way the weather is reported, and just how important is it, anyway?" True, it is a rather small part of life, but how often do we look at life in general in terms of extremes? Are you really having the worse day of your life, or is your day sprinkled with a few challenges? Are these challenges insurmountable, or do they just require you to think a bit, and in the end, actually turn out to be great opportunities to learn?

The child that borrows the family car, and stays out beyond curfew may rush home to avoid getting into trouble, but have an accident on the way, and get grounded as a result. At first glance we could easily ask what possible positive aspect could exist in this situation. The child is now in trouble, the car has been damaged, there might have been some injuries involved, and the parent, who was probably worried when the child missed curfew, now has the additional worry, and expense of repairing the car, and possibly higher insurance rates!

All of this may well be true, but, it is quite likely that that child will be more attentive to time and more responsible with driving in the future. It may be that the parent and child have not communicated adequately in the past, and this very real challenge has given them an opportunity to reconnect and improve the way they communicate with each other. Perhaps on another level altogether, the parent now has the occasion to find another and better insurance company.

The point is that our world is full of events and opportunities. The way we perceive them determines how we respond or react to them, and what we get out of them. When we view something as terrible and see ourselves as somehow "put upon" by our circumstances, we in fact make ourselves victim to those circumstances. If instead, we look at a challenge life has brought us, or more accurately we have brought ourselves, as a signpost directing us to something that we need to pay attention to, we could well learn an important lesson, and avoid further problems.

The fact is that nothing is either as awful or as wonderful as it seems - unless we think it is! It's all in the way we perceive it. Life is about experiencing and learning from our experiences. When we take the time to examine our circumstances and ask ourselves on a conscious level how we really feel about them, we take a first step toward self empowerment, and thus toward learning from the situation. Instead of being the victim in the situation, we become the student. If we choose to continue examining the situation consciously, we can inevitably learn and grow from it in some way.

So what has the weather to do with all this? Well, the next time the forecast is for cloudy skies, and lots of rain, just ask yourself what it would be like if there were no rain for a few months. Not a pretty picture, is it? The weather, like everything else in life just is. It's neither good nor bad. After all, if you were a flower, or a duck, you would be very happy with a rainy day!

You are welcomed to contact the Northeast Holistic Center with questions about our educational programs, private sessions and events, or about any of the topics highlighted in our newsletters.