WIN BY LOSING

No, I haven't lost my mind. Like many of you, I enjoy my creature comforts and lifestyle perks. We live in challenging economic times full of societal upheaval. For many of us, the "rules" appear to have been broken. Good people are hurting, but instead of languishing in the pain of economic hardship, we collectively must strengthen the foundation upon which our lives have been constructed.

I am suggesting that you take a step away from your material world and close your eyes and imagine your world if your status symbols, titles, accolades and possessions were severely diminished or taken away from you.

Who would you be? Would you still be happy with yourself? Could you be? Certainly.

How would your friends and loved ones view you? Critical in that response would be the realization of who your real friends truly are. What about your spouse? Children? Parents? Would they still love you? Again, certainly.

Only you have the power to denigrate your personal power and potential to rebuild yourself. You spouse and children love you. Your intelligence and education, as well as your experiences, cannot be taken away from you. You must identify how much of your life you truly control. You must rewrite the rules while abiding by your integrity so that you can rise anew.

We often will not make critical changes in our lives until we are faced with crisis. Sometimes we can only win by losing.

TODAY'S QUESTION: If you lost every material possession and every mark of status, what would YOU be left with?