The Meaning You Give It

I just heard an amazing story that I needed to share.

There was a man who owned an apartment building in a really bad neighborhood that was fraught with robberies and breaking. He would even hire people to live in his apartments when they were vacant to protect them from burglars.

One day he had to check on one of the buildings and made the mistake of leaving an envelope with $40,000 cash in it on the passages seat of his car. He also had 2 $250 Mp3 players on top of the envelope.

When he returned to the car, he saw the passenger's window was literally smashed in. And he was robbed.

Of the Mp3 players.

The envelope with the cash was still there. Untouched.

The man was exuberant. He felt like dancing. Sure, he lost $500 of electronics, but he was spared the $40,000!

He made a marvelous observation which he shared. Had he NOT had the envelope of cash in the car, his day would have been ruined. He would have been so upset that his car window got smashed, and that he lost his Mp3 players. He might have beat himself up for being so stupid and for not having known better.

But now that there was an envelope with a LOT of cash in it that was NOT stolen, he was jubilant! He felt like the luckiest man on earth!

The man's takeaway was that every event in our lives when we seem to be losing, but we always have something we DIDN'T lose and how good off we ARE: We have our health, our lives, etc., etc. whatever you can think of. So matter WHAT it seems to be that you are losing, there is so much you still have to be grateful for, much much more than $40,000!

And you know what MY takeaway is?

That nothing in life has any meaning other than the meaning that you give it. YOU decide how to react in any given situation, based on the stories you tell yourself.

Nothing is inherently bad. You decide if it is.

A car break-in has no meaning. One man can have a bad day, bad week, bad month, or even bad year because his car was broken into because of the stories he tells himself about what he lost and how careless he is. And one man can have the same break-in with the same loss and have the greatest LIFE he has ever had and be forever grateful because of that break-in because he is so thankful for what he DIDN'T lose.

We all control and create the stories in our lives and then react to them. Why not create empowering, joyful, life-giving stories over negative ones? After all, can you EVER really know that something is bad?

No, you cannot.

But you CAN love every minute of your life with the most powerful creative tool that resides in your skull. Use it to live your life, not to die it.