PROBLEM AND OPPORTUNITY: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
My passion for life coaching has a lot to do with one of the powerful central tenets that it promotes — the concept that problems and opportunities are really just two sides of the same coin.
Let’s face it, life often feels like a bit of a rollercoaster.
All of us occasionally get caught off guard by unexpected events, disruptions to our best laid plans and personal health, wellbeing, and financial shocks that seem to arrive without warning.
Sadly, some of us experience problems that are more persistent in their effects. Left unresolved, these issues can compound to the point where they transport our minds to dark places.
Procrastination
For many—often unwittingly—the default reaction to unexpected problems is procrastination.
In the face of what seems like insurmountable obstacles, our minds freeze up. We resort to hoping that, somehow, things will change.
When they don’t, our ‘mind paralysis’ just worsens.
Prolonged stress inevitably leads to medical issues. And in this regard, we have been educated to consider pharmaceutical drugs, medications and therapies as the default treatments.
Treating the symptoms
In other words, many of us have a tendency to try to ignore our problems in the hope that they will go away. When they don’t, and they start to sap our very lifeblood, we look for alleviation by treating the symptoms, not the cause.
I say all of this with some firsthand personal experience.
Without the benefit of my knowledge of life coaching and faith in what life coaching teaches, who knows how things might have ended up?
Opportunity in heavy disguise
But what I can confidently say, to anyone going through difficult times, or confronting problems that seem impossible to deal with, is this:
The problem you are dealing with is simply an opportunity, albeit perhaps cloaked in a very heavy disguise!
Problems are the Universe’s way of alerting us to the fact that we need to alter course—whether subtly, or more dramatically.
Change of perspective needed
To be convinced to alter course, we need to adopt a change of perspective. And it’s that change of perspective that reveals the previously hidden opportunity.
Unfortunately, we can become highly stressed by the challenging situations we find ourselves in. So much so that it feels as if a thick fog has descended, making it impossible to see anything ahead, let alone a different perspective.
The good news—although it may not be obvious to us at the time—is that we control the fog. With a little effort, we can thin it out sufficiently to get our bearings and begin to develop a fresh view of the situation we are faced with.
The ego and the inner being
Each of us possesses an outward-facing ego, that tries to maintain our cultured identity, and an intrinsic core—an inner being that knows—and wants to guide us towards—our purpose in life.
Some consider the inner being to be our true essence and our personal conduit to the divine realms.
Meditation, prayer, time spent exercising, or time spent alone with Mother Nature. These are all activities that play an important dual role. They help calm the ego’s mind games, that cause us to freeze and become stressed, and they strengthen our connection with the inner being.
Conscious awareness
It doesn’t take much.
Simply being consciously aware of the inner being and the value of connecting with it, is enough to cause a shift.
Once activated, the inner being will reveal the flip side of the coin — the opportunity that we are being presented with.
Taking action
Exposing the opportunity is a great start, but taking advantage of the opportunity—and liberating ourselves from what we thought was an intractable problem—requires us to take action.
And taking action requires a little courage and determination to follow the action through to its intended conclusion.
Most, if not all of the inspiring personal stories you will read about, describe a common theme, or unfolding process that can be summed up as follows:
Living in the Problem - Conscious Awareness - Mind Shift - Taking Inspired Action - Living in the Opportunity.
Examples
If you are experiencing financial distress, this may be your inner being prompting you to find a new career.
If you are suddenly beset by health issues, you may be receiving a signal to slow down, take more care of yourself, or engage in a new hobby or sport.
If you are struggling with the problem of constant home maintenance, consider that this may be the flip side of the opportunity to own a brand new, maintenance-free home.
If you are plagued by relationship issues, this may be hiding the opportunity to dump toxic ‘friends’, find a more empowering community or pay more attention to yourself.
A message from your inner being
Every serious problem represents a message from your inner being alerting you to a new opportunity. It’s time for change.
And change doesn’t just happen. You have to make it happen.
Avoiding ‘pain’
At first, the idea of change might trigger avoidance, due to the pain your ego perceives to be associated with it. But this is perceived pain, not real pain.
Real pain results from ignoring the message and failing to take the required action to alter the path you are on.
Rest assured. It’s never too late to do just that!
