This post could be a long one. I’ll shorten it down for you.

In fact, I’m not sure how many books are written on the topic of “life”, but searching for a phrase like “the meaning of life” in Google search, Google books and Amazon yields an amazing, respectable list of authors contributing to this topic.

I’m not intending to solve, or answer the meaning of life so that all readers feel relieved in one reading of a post. But, rather – make you sit up and formulate some responses and action steps that might help.

I think it’s important to talk about what I see a lot of.

I’m sure you do too.

It’s something that is extremely pervasive in our society, and surrounds us all.

Test: Think of 5-6 people that you recently have spoken and interacted with. After reflecting on these conversations for a moment, ask yourself: what’s the message they are sending to you? How did you feel during and afterwards?

Not great?

Do not feel defeated. There’s a reason for this, and the beauty is that you can change it.

Yes, life can suck. But, you know what? For some people it doesn’t appear to be that way at all? Why is that?

Why is it that you can go to the favelas of Brazil, and see poor people be rich and happy. They are rich on relationships, friends, family. They don’t have much money, but are dancing in the streets, and feeling great about every day.

On the flip-side, we see folks chasing the all-mighty-dollar in rich countries that have ‘everything’ – infrastructure, healthcare, financial systems that rocks, advanced medicine and incredible technology and research. In these countries, the happiness indicator is perhaps not as great. (generalizing here).

My main point is this – we can change our own “inner game” drastically by focusing on really one thing: “our response”. If somebody came up to you and said: “you suck”, you are completely in control of your answer and behavior around it. You COULD say: “thanks for that, interesting…”, or “yeah, and you suck too!”… It’s completely your choice.

Normal Vincent Peale says:

“People go struggling, perhaps even whining, through their days with a sense of dull resentment at what they consider ‘bad breaks’ life has given them”

This is not to ignore hardships and tragedies of the world, but also making sure they that don’t dominate.

So, if people are bringing you down – realize this main point: YOU ARE IN CHARGE! Quit the whining, quit the blaming, and watch this video.

It may be simpler than you think.

You can permit obstacles to control your mind. Or, set yourself free, change your life to “un-suck” – by taking responsibility for your own spiritual power and asking (when a particular issue occurs): “what can I learn from this situation”. That’s completely different, and will make a life change.

Try it – one simple step at a time. You’ll have to catch yourself. Work on it every day.

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