“There” is No Better Than Here

This is part 3 of a 4 part series on “Being the Best You, You Can Be.”

“There” is no better than here.  As human beings, we spend too much time comparing our lives to those around us, wishing we had so-and-so’s body, or so-and-so’s salary, or so-and-so’s health– that we miss what’s great about where we are.  Here is the perfect place to be, and if you miss it, it’s gone forever.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been focusing on being the best YOU you can be.  First, you I asked you to get clear on who you are and what you’re committed to in life. Last week, we discussed sourcing your happiness in community.  This week, it’s about surrender; surrendering to where you are… throwing your arms around your current situation (good or bad) and embracing it fully.

For many of us, this is really difficult.  As human beings, we often want to resist “what’s so.”   We want to avoid our current reality in all its crappy glory.  We focus instead on where we WISH we were, how we think it SHOULD be and why being HERE is all WRONG.  Guess what?  It’s not all wrong, life is perfect and you are always given EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED to continue to expand and grow and become the YOU you were meant to be.  By pushing past “here” you are ignoring the gifts that life has to offer you.  By ignoring “here” you are missing the lesson(s) that life has set before you to learn.

But what about disease, loss, tragedy?  Even in the darkest times in our lives, there are opportunities for growth.  When I lost my brother to a drug overdose in 2004 I thought I would NEVER make it out of the dark… it was devastating, to say the least.  Yet the trauma, as dark as it was, also brought little gifts with it… my family got closer with an unbreakable, unshakable bond.  We raised our level of communication to increase intimacy and support among us.  We all began to evaluate our own lives and re-establish priorities based on the “wake-up” call of Tom’s death.  WE ALL BECAME AWAKE to the blessings of our lives and got in touch with a deep gratitude and joy for life.

These are the lessons that are possible when you embrace HERE.  When you accept your current circumstances and evaluate the opportunities for growth.  It’s not easy.  Sometimes it’s not fun… yet, in order to grow and expand, you must push through all that is before you to learn.  I’ve often heard it said that a lesson that goes unlearned will present itself over and over again until the student begins to master it.  I say, BE AWAKE to life and just do it right the first time!

Life is perfect.  Be open.  Surrender to it fully and the YOU you are meant to be will unfold naturally in its space.