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Turn it around 11/26/2006 1:42:08 PM
Something that looks bad from one angle may look good from another. Most people claim not to be superstitious but we all have strange quirks and beliefs. It is true that our beliefs dictate our reality. I was once giving my staff a motivational pep talk and I held up a iron horse shoe. I held it facing down in a 'n' shape and asked them what it meant. All of them said 'bad luck'. I turned it around and asked them again and they said, 'good luck'. It has long been a superstition where I come from that if you hang a horse shoe upside down, you will bring bad luck upon your home but if you turn it around so that it faces up, it will bring you good luck. The difference? I don't really know but it struck me that anything can be turned around. Something that might appear to be a negative can be turned around and viewed as a positive. If you put your heart and soul into something only to see it fail, you may think that you're a failure but what you gleaned from the experience? Mistakes are only inverted lessons. See the lesson and the experience becomes a valuable one. Personality traits can be viewed in the same way. Negative traits can be turned around and turned into positive ones. Example: Stubborness turned around becomes tenacity. Anger properly directed can become determination. A nit picker is a great detail person. See what I mean?
Sometimes life throws out challenges that you may think are unfair. After extensive prednisone therapy, I developed cataracts in both eyes and became legally blind. As a creative person who made a living in the decorating industry and an artist, this seemed to me to be a fate worse than death. I became extremely withdrawn and lost a lot of confidence. I hadn't realised just how much I relied on my eyesight and I felt helpless. I eventually had an operation to replace the lens and my eyesight was restored. After my eyesight was restored, I realised that I'd learnt a few things while blind. My hearing became more sensitive and I had learnt to listen carefully. I learnt to think on a completely different level and became far more introspective which led to greater self-awareness. I also honed my sense of touch and enjoyed physical contact as I had never done before. I lost something (thankfully in my case temporarily) but I also gained something (thankfully that is permanent).
There are many other examples throughout my life and the one thing that I now try to do is to see the flip side. Sometimes this is hard. When I'm in a situation that brings me pain, it's hard to see what good can come out of it and so often wisdom only comes in hindsight. But I keep mentally 'turning it around' and this really helps. I hope it helps those who take the time to read this blog.
