Author’s note for my book: It really does work out well when you decide what your truths are so that you can live by them. It makes it so much easier if you choose once rather than choosing daily. One choice for a great life. This is my final truth from a talk I gave, and next week we will have an affirmation to bring it all together.
The last few weeks, I have been sharing my three truths, prompted by Lewis Howes, who asks his guests a question that really made me think: If you were to leave this earth and were not able to leave any of your works behind, what three truths would you want us to know?
My first two truths were: Always speak words that build the life you want to live. And number two: Do not wait for joy. Choose it and practice it now.
For my final truth, I kind of combined two truths because I simply could not leave either one of them out: Believe that life is always working out for you, and offer more grace than seems necessary.
Throughout my life, I have held fast to a concept of reverse paranoia, the belief that everyone is out to help me. I flipped that one big! I have never believed that my fate or my future was in the hands of another person. I guess that is why joy has never been a far reach for me, because I knew it was my responsibility. And where people are concerned, I just assume, whether accurate or not, that people want to help me. In fact, for over 15 years, one of the affirmations I have written daily in my journal is, All the right people always show up to help me.
There is something about the belief that life is working out that serves as a magnet. It is that gratitude factor that says my gratitude becomes both a magnifier and a magnet, attracting good circumstances and good people to me.
I know this was supposed to be one truth, but there is no way I could leave this earth,-don’t worry, I am not planning on going anytime soon, but it’s the assignment,-without talking about grace. There is absolutely no way I could leave out the importance of grace for the best-ever life. I believe, to the deepest depths of me, that grace is a gift we really cannot keep unless we give it away.
When I was not too many years into my Broker journey, I was working on a short sale that was anything but short. Another agent had referred a client to me, and after 14 months of negotiation, we were there. The closing would have meant the single biggest amount of money I had ever made, and after the 2008 recession, it was much anticipated and much needed.
To make this short and to the point, the deal failed at the last minute due to a lack of arm’s-length relationships, and BAM, it blew up. The other agent found a way, jumped in, and cut me out.
I had a choice to make. I am not recounting at this moment all the feelings I felt, the sadness, and the disappointment. But what I did know was that I had decided years ago that I only had one way of getting even with others. My belief is firm: The only people we have to get even with are those that have helped us.
I had to make a decision. I could move forward with what I knew I could accomplish, or I could spend valuable time and energy fighting over money. It was an easy choice because I had made those value decisions earlier in my life.
I have never once felt badly for offering more grace than necessary, and at age 67, I don’t think that will change.
I also know that if I decide what is the truth of me, and live out that truth, then life really will work out for me, and I will attract all the things that build the life I want. It is my desire that I do the same for others, so that I can be their reverse paranoia. I want to be one of those people who shows up and helps prove to someone else that maybe life really is working for them too.
Reflections for the day
What situation have you automatically labeled as happening against you?
Could there be another way to see it?
Who might need a little more grace from you?
Where might you need to offer that same grace to yourself?
