I don’t think there’s a person on this earth that hasn’t experienced hard times, and bouts of depression, and periods of dissatisfaction.  We all have our moments (that sometimes last for years at a time) of pain and conflict and great distress.  I read somewhere that the Chinese translation of crisis is dangerous opportunity.  This understanding of crisis is potent, I believe, because in it lies positive possibilities.

Opportunity?  Doesn’t that word just sound like a good thing?  Perhaps no different from challenge, but certainly a less onerous word, and I like less onerous.

 Crisis as opportunity was a tough lesson for me, and as I delved into the self-help/motivational books and CDs, trying to find my way out of a quagmire, I had so many doubts!  My self-helpers told me to just bulldoze through those doubts; to say, as though it were already so, what I wanted to be so.  Simple things, like looking in the mirror every morning and saying Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better.  Now there’s a thought that is all-encompassing; it doesn’t zero in on how or in what respect I’m getting better, so the self-healing occurs wherever it needs to.  I repeated this affirmation, at first not much believing what I said, but every day I said it, and somewhere along the way I started believing it.  And it started happening: my finances improved, a bit at a time, but consistently.  My job opportunities did the same.  My health, my outlook on life, my self-confidence?  The same.

 Now I understand (isn’t experience always the best teacher?): especially in crisis, what we repeatedly say to ourselves in our mind, and what we repeatedly say to others out loud, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  I’ve learned that saying I can’t afford that is not so good.  Better to say if I want it I can have it, I just don’t want it right now.  It’s a positive spin.  When we say man, I feel awful we’re reinforcing a negative reality.  To say I’m feeling better every minute reminds us of the power of the spoken word.  A silly word game?  Maybe, but one that has proven effective for anyone who simply wants a better outlook on life.

 But words alone aren’t quite enough; we need to add our imagination to the mix.  When I decided I’d spend my retirement living and traveling in a recreational vehicle (RV), I was still working full time supporting my children, and retirement was years away.  But I was possessed by this idea so I began doing research.  I spent one entire weekend on the internet reading everything I could about RVs and living in them.  I took bathroom breaks and food breaks, and at the end of the weekend I realized I’d been at the computer for sixteen hours straight.  I found a group of RVers that met at various campgrounds once a month, so I joined that group.  I had no RV so I tent camped, then camped in my minivan.  My daughter’s friend said I’d have an RV before year’s end, and I laughed – surely that was not possible and wasn’t in my plan, because I was years away from retirement.

But OMG! What happened?  One of the group members called and asked if I wanted to buy her small RV because she found a larger one that she wanted.  I said no, I can’t afford it; but I couldn’t help thinking about that adorable, very small motorhome.  It wouldn’t leave me alone, and neither would she.  Long story short, my imagination conquered my financial logic and I purchased that RV with my credit card!

In spite of the objections I’d voiced (that’s impossible; I can’t afford it) my desire had overriden the objections.  My dream was beginning to take on a life of its own, and I recognized that the Powers That Be were working on my behalf.  My daughter’s friend was right; the purchase was completed in November that year.  Funny how the Universe hears our imaginings loudly and clearly, even when our words say something contradictory.  And imagination plus the spoken word has awesome power, power that can bulldoze through any brick wall!