When faced with an unexpected challenge it’s quite normal to feel some “negative” emotions like anger, grief, overwhelm or fear.The important thing is to allow yourself to feel them but not get stuck in them, otherwise you might miss the opportunity that’s surely going to come.
As the old saying goes, “Every cloud has a silver lining”, and it’s vital to our personal happiness to go looking for that lining. And the larger and more painful the challenge, the more you truly owe it to yourself to use the challenge to create the life you truly desire.

When you face a challenge, whether big or small, go looking for the opportunity that’s hidden within it.

Simple Empowerment Steps

1. Use the art of Surrender and trust that, in the whole grand scheme of life, the challenge is actually perfect.If it seems that life has taken something away from you, have faith that you’ll receive something even greater back. If you go looking for the bad, you’ll find it; if you go looking for the good, you’ll find it; so why not look for the good?
2. Ask yourself questions like, “How can I use this situation to benefit me?” and “How could this actually help me get what I want in life?”

Inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places! I created the Opportunity message last night after I found out yesterday that my hours at my part-time job have been cut back to only 6 hours a week.
I had a call from the boss to come and see him before I went home, and after I got off the phone I wondered if I’d be finding out I didn’t have a job anymore. I promised myself that whatever happened, I’d see it as perfect.
On my drive home I didn’t feel angry – for financial reasons the company needs to do it and I can understand that – however I did notice a fair bit of fear coming up. Fear because I’m not in the strongest of financial situations at the moment, and my wage, though not large to begin with, was my safety net, and now that’s been largely taken away. In spite of the fear (or maybe because of it), I stood in a place of surrender to the situation, and started looking at ways to make it work for me. I realised that I only need to sell 20 copies of my book a week to replace the wage I’ve lost. That’s very do-able, so will be my immediate focus – and I’ll finally be putting into action various ideas that have lain dormant for probably far too long!
I fully expect to look back and see this as a turning point for my business and my life – that it’s just the kick up the backside I needed to get on with creating the life I truly desire. Life has a funny way of pushing you along your path if you drag your heels for too long!!
And one final example about finding opportunity in challenge.The morning after I’d found out my friend, Greg, had died I woke up and couldn’t stop crying. I was washing my hands in the bathroom when I heard in my head some words he’d emailed me a couple of months before, “Life is too short to wallow in self pity”. At that moment I made the decision I was going to look for every good thing I could find from Greg’s life and his death and I was going to be grateful.
In other words, I went looking for the opportunity in the challenge. I don’t know if I’ve ever made a more important decision in my life!
By choosing to look for the opportunity I’ve remembered that the most important thing in my life is to simply be happy now, without needing a reason why.
By looking for the opportunity I’ve created and published my book. By looking for the opportunity I am now creating the life I truly want to live, not the one I think I should!
Greg’s death was one of the most painful experiences of my life, so I’ve made the commitment to myself to use it to make my life happier and more fulfilled.
I’m sure you’ve had your own equally painful challenges in life.
You owe it to yourself to take those experiences and use them to your advantage – to create the life of love and joy you truly desire in your heart and soul!