Awareness and Possibility

How often do you find yourself in a negative situation in the workplace? Do you face organizational challenges? Is there a particular individual that you either don’t get a long with or that you believe is bring the organization down? Have you just gone through or are you looking at layoffs? Has your budget been slashed?

When we are faced with an adverse situation we can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. The one thing that we can always depend on is our choice of how to react to the situation. Even if we have totally lost control of the situation and are faced with impending death, we still have the ability to control our attitude.

This is an exercise in clarity, in awareness. If we can be clear about the situation, if we can be aware of our own attitude towards the situation which is driven by habit if we are not present to ourselves, then we will often be driven by habit into being part of the problem.

All that is required to be part of the problem is to do nothing. But we can do so much more than nothing to be part of the problem. We can choose to complain, walking from person to person that we know and telling them the tale of woe. We can really do harm if we can criticize others in the story.

However we can choose to be part of the solution, and all that is required to be part of the solution is to:

1. Develop a positive attitude for creating a better situation.
2. This attitude must support our creative visualization of what is possible in this situation. This vision of the possible aims the arrow of our intent.
3. The attitude must generate passion for action that is the muscle that draws back the bow and lets the arrow fly.

To try this on a situation that seems impossibly negative, list 10 Positive things that can happen if you died today.

Once you have the list, what do you notice about the list? Who is the center of attention?

Can you be passionate enough about the outcomes to take action now?