Recipe for Lemonade

Life can really suck sometimes.  Even the most positive person can feel self pity and play the "victim" when something doesn't go our way.  Sometimes we have our dreams in our grasp only to watch them vanish like smoke in the wind.  How does a rational, mature, positive person, handle this adversity?  

First, and foremost is to have gratitude for what you do have;  family, friends, coffee, the shoes on your feet...you can find something to be thankful for.

Next, you have to ask yourself "Was my dream interfering with my purpose?"

Remember the movie Field of Dreams?  I was listening to an old Tony Robbins recording earlier and he pointed out the scene in the movie where Ray Kinsella is talking to Dr. Graham about his lost dream of playing baseball.  He had made it to the big leagues and had made it onto the field in the last game of the season, however he never got the chance to bat, and the next season, he was sent to the minors, so he left baseball to become a doctor...

Ray Kinsella: Fifty years ago, for five minutes you came within... you came this close. It would KILL some men to get so close to their dream and not touch it. God, they'd consider it a tragedy.
Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham: Son, if I'd only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes... now that would have been a tragedy.

The character played by the late Burt Lancaster absolutely NAILED it.  That's one of the best statements that defines the difference between a dream and a purpose.  Sometimes they are the same, but more often that not, one is simply a desire of the heart, while the other is the overwhelming drive that subtly guides your thinking, actions, and ultimately, your life.

If you haven't discovered your purpose, know that everything in the universe is driving you toward it, and your lost dream may have been one of the obstacles.  That dream might be the source of short term happiness, but accomplishing your purpose will give you an overpowering sense of fulfillment.

And finally, when nothing else works, the dreaded, "put on your big person Underoos, and suck it up!"  If you're still whining and groaning about how "it's not fair..." and "I deserved...", you have to absolutely shut down the primal thinking with your more refined mature brain.  When those thoughts surface, beat them down like a rented mule!   If you hang on to them, you're feeding them, making them stronger.

Over time, you'll usually see the dream for what it was...a distraction from fulfilling your purpose.

Enjoy the lemonade!

Chris