Going through a very challenging time in my life, I’ve found that the most important way to get through the sh*t is by shifting my perspective.  There is a lot of talk out there about staying positive: “Just think positive and everything will be okay.”  I think that’s true to a point – but let’s be honest, if you’re feeling like crap, it’s hard to look at life through rose-colored glasses.

“Yeah, I’m unemployed.  My dog is sick.  I can’t afford food.  But at least I still have both my legs!”  We all know that no matter how bad we have it, there’s ALWAYS going to be someone worse off than us.  That’s just reality.  And while it’s a great idea to look on the bright side of things — it may even help us to be grateful for having both our limbs — but in my experience, this thought only lifts our spirits temporarily and most likely, artificially.  It reminds me of when our parents used to say we had to eat our vegetables because there were starving people in Africa.  “Great, Mom – pack ‘em up and send them off!  I just want my dessert!”

The truth is, we all have problems at some level that we have to work through.  And we all suffer in a way that is very REAL to us at the moment of our personal struggle.  If we didn’t, we’d be done with our work here on Earth and we’d be dead.  Dead as in – transitioned to the other side, moved onto a better place, living blissfully in Heaven, or just six-feet-under – whatever you believe.  🙂

But since I believe we are on Earth to learn our lessons and grow spiritually, we’re destined to be triggered along the way, making it virtually impossible to “be and think positive” all the time.   And more importantly, if we just discount what we’re going through because we’re trying to stay positive or there is someone else worse off than us, we lose out on the lesson that our personal challenge is meant to teach us.  And if you don’t learn the lesson, it’s just going to show up again… and again… and again… until you do.  So, I don’t know about you, but I think I’d like to learn the lesson as quickly as possible and move on with my life… to the next lesson.

I thought of this blog today because along with my own financial difficulties, I watched the NASDAQ drop 636 points, sending many people into a panic once again.  Since I’m broke – as you all know by now – I don’t have money in the market, so I watched it from a non-attached, unemotional “I have nothing to lose” attitude.  This is a very freeing perspective, by the way.  At one time in my life, I had everything – the house, the car, the designer clothes, jewelry, etc.  And today, as the stock market crashed, I found myself in a jewelry store, selling the very jewelry that I was so attached to a few years ago.  Through my process of letting go of many material things, I’m being taught what really matters in life: love, companionship, community – and, yes, sometimes when I’m down to 2 bucks, FOOD!  It’s my belief that we’re all being taught this lesson on a global scale—hence the status of our world economy.

Learning what really matters in life has been a big lesson for me this lifetime. Along with learning to trust in the Universe, remembering not to judge my process or anyone else’s process along the way, and most importantly – learning to believe in mySELF.

We are all on a journey filled with ups and downs.  And the way I shift the sh*t in my life is to feel the feelings, find the lesson, (learn it as quickly as possible), forgive myself for judging myself and others, and move forward.  Then I can be “authentically positive” instead of just forcing my mind to think positive thoughts it doesn’t believe.   I find this helps me shift my sh*t, raise my vibration and therefore, FEEL much better.  Remember, in every challenge there hides a blessing.  They hard part is finding it.  But when you do, it’s well worth it!

With Love, For the highest good…

xo, Christy Jacobs