Much of my art is inspired by the insights I gain in books and in my meditative practice. Whether the outcome of the last election was not to your liking, or you are an entrepreneur struggling to move a project forward, here are 2 simple things I have found that you can put in place to help you move forward in your day and deal with adversity.

FOCUS:     Sure we all have had a pretty good idea of the importance of focus in getting work done since grade school.  I don’t need to tell you that. We all know that we should focus on a project and not look at Facebook or that cute little squirrel outside. However we don’t. Why is that? Because focus starts within.  The distractions that we fail to factor in are, in fact, distracting thoughts. To often, our mind is half on the task we are engaged in and half on something like our plans for the evening or what to get Aunt Bessie for Christmas. Cultivate the habit throughout the day of regularly asking yourself, ” What am I doing RIGHT NOW.” Train yourself to pull yourself back to the thing you are working on (physically and mentally) on a consistent basis for a half hour at a time. Take a 5 min break after each session to relax your focus, handle small items, or to enjoy distraction.

LEARNING TO SEE SETBACKS AS OPPORTUNIES:     In the Book, The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday, the author points out that half of the companies in the Fortune 500 were originally started during difficult economic times like a recession or long bear market. They did not let tough times stop them. In fact, they used them to their advantage. Inherit in every challenge is a chance to grow and frequently be forced to push yourself to new heights in record time. Most of the truly great achievements of man were born in some way through adversity. When we expect hurdles along the way, stay relaxed, and look for weak points in the problem rather than make up stories and meaning in it: we utilize life’s greatest mechanism for growth. It can at some times be difficult to do this. That is where the first thing I mentioned, FOCUS, comes in handy.  Staying present and focused allows us to handle the issue rather than get lost in fear or discouragement.

This is the first time I have shared some of these insights. I welcome your comments. You can send them HERE.