Being open...its a new day

Life lessons are great if you listen to the lesson itself. If you don’t get a lesson the first time, you can be sure that you’ll get another chance to learn it. The universe has a way of making you relive that lesson over and over until you learn from it. If you are open, you will learn from the lesson and then move on. If you do not learn from it, the universe just keeps you in the loop until you do learn. 

Thinking of the biggest lesson I have learnt, they are often from the most difficult periods of my life. People may have told me, but I had to live the lesson before it was true to me. When a situation occurs, ask yourself what you have learnt from it. Was I open to different people’s perceptions? Could I have negotiated the situation better? 

Look at the situation from an open view point. Take it on board as a learning curve and add it to your tools of life. If you learnt the lesson the first time then you will be better prepared the next and you won’t fall into that same pothole in the road you will swerve the car because you know it is there already.

When I have been open to things and used my intuition, wonderful things always happen. It is as if everything falls into place for me and nothing becomes an effort. It is easier to go with the flow rather than be “on the path”. The following are some little things that happen when you are in a good place and true to yourself.

A few years ago we were planning to renovate our house. We were pushed a little because the council decided to add a heritage listing to our area. We found out it may take two years to renovate so we thought we should start sooner rather than later. We are also in a flood area according to the council. With the two restrictions on our house, we needed to make some very dramatic plans to comply with the council. I received a phone call from the architect after a long silence to tell me he had had a very bad fall and had been in hospital. Meanwhile, there was massive flooding and storms in our area. We were one of the only houses that did not have flood issues. The hoops the council wanted us to jump through were proven wrong by the storm. Our architect felt he now has a case that will save us much of the issues. Because of the fall he had not drawn the design for the house. In a way, his fall saved us time and money in the long term because we could now prove that there is not any flooding issues for our house.

Success is not the key to happiness. 

Happiness is the key to success. 

If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

~ Albert Schweitzer

Most of all, teach yourself to become open to alternatives. You have been doing things more or less the same way your whole life. That means, you have a certain way of thinking, feeling and behaving, and those three elements have gotten you the results you have today.

Different results can only come about by changing those elements of thought, emotion and behaviour.

Recently, I found myself in a situation where I was surprised by people's lack of openness. It was during my book club meeting. The idea of a book club is to read something different, something that you wouldn’t normally read. At the start of each year, we all recommend different books and hope that everyone enjoys them. In reality, it’s impossible to get everyone to enjoy all the books on the list. We are all different and enjoy different books. 

One of our members had recommended The Time Traveler’s Wife. I had read it some time ago and found it very difficult to begin with, but eventually fell in love with it. Many in the group never got past the start. This often happens in book club and not just because people are not enjoying the book. The person who recommended the book loved it so much and found it very hard to accept any constructive criticism about the book itself. The criticism was not personal.

I suggested a motivational book. Many members in our book club juggle a lot of balls in their life. We are all busy women with careers and children to look after with very little spare time. I thought it would be a great idea to read something that could lift people’s spirits and give practical advice. Judging by some members reaction to my proposal, you would think I had asked them to fly to the moon. Interesting why would you not be open to any book that could help improve the quality of life?

That’s when I pulled out my credibility card. I want to improve my life skills and my happiness. Many of the discussions in the book club had been about the lack of free time in our lives and how we never have enough time to do the things we take pleasure in. I emphasised this point. My suggestion to add a motivational book to the list was accepted and it was really interesting who read it and who did not. If a book helps you achieve a positive outcome and helps bring balance to one’s life, wouldn’t that be a book you would want to start reading?

And how do you know what value any book can give you until you have read the book?