As the few remaining days of 2009 tick by, I wonder how this year, and the last decade will be viewed by history. I wonder how history will view world events; view our country, our politicians, and our society? I wonder if we will be brave enough to look at ourselves and what we have and haven’t done.
Time will tell, I hope our leaders will learn from it. I hope we as individuals will learn from our past too, because it is only by remembering our past actions and our inaction that we can feel sure footed enough going into our future. As long as we learn from the mistakes, and avoid them in the future, as long as we build on the positive times, we can move into the next year and decade better than we leave this one.
Those of us who take an interest in the news headlines and look a little deeper, will not be surprised that our society is going to have some testing times over the coming few years. Economically we can expect hardships, those who are hoping to avoid those hardships will, in the main be disappointed, for only a small percentage of individuals will be untouched by the pending economic storm.
For the rest of us, it will be a case of heads down and hard work. We will need to develop innovative products and services for our businesses to survive. We will have to learn self development methods to meet the challenges which will inevitable be faced, and we will have to take responsibility for our selves.
None of the above however is beyond us; we are more than capable of meeting the economic storm which is gathering. We have done so in the past, and we will do so again. On a personal level, I developed my IBS Audio Program 100 because there was a real need for it, and the many other programs I have developed over the years were developed because there is a real need for them. Some of them I hope will be used to help us to rise to the challenges to come. Dealing with the disappointments and negative emotions of being made redundant is an obvious example. Developing greater confidence and self esteem will be necessary for many people. Dealing with anxiety should be high on the to do list too. For those who struggle with irritable bowel syndrome IBS and its physical and emotional symptoms may well find the symptoms become worse during stressful times and events and considering new options of choice may be needed.
Every day of my working life I meet and work with people who are prepared to learn, to let go of old negative thought patterns, who invest in their own self development, learning to meet challenges in their every day lives and relationships.
Meeting the challenges of highly stressful events at work, and out of work, I work with people who have chosen to take responsibility for them selves, and to help themselves to live a happier, more comfortable and more balanced life.
Some of them come from difficult backgrounds and up bringing, others just setting out on life, in their teens and early twenties but all of them exhibit one thing, a common thread through them all, and that is one of an inner strength, an inner resource which has helped them to over come, sometimes even the word survive is not to strong for some of their journeys, but that strength is there, and they have chosen to use it to help them to move on, to something better, and invariably they are successful, because they know and realise that they can do, and be better, than they are when we first meet.
And that same strength I believe is in each and every one of us. I believe that each and every one of us, regardless of background can achieve more, if we first identify the need and desire to move on, and then act upon it. Finding what we need to help us to move on, identify what we want to achieve and then find the help, in whatever form to help us be more balanced and productive human beings.
So when we see the headlines in the papers and on the news in the coming months, let us remind ourselves that headlines sell papers, and grab attention, but let us remember that we can choose to be victors or victims, we can choose to wait and see, or we can choose to go out and grab what we want, and as long are we are not scared of hard work, and don’t always expect a quick fix, if we have patience, but also a drive to move on, then we can look forward to something better.
I see the possibilities very day with patients, and receive emails from people using my programs who have trusted themselves to make a difference. And usually it all starts by acknowledging the past, and learning from it, and then moving on in a different way to create a better life for themselves and their families, and therefore a better future too. And this often ripples out and touches those around them too.
My hope for 2010 and beyond is that we use what we have learned from the past, to map a better, brighter future for ourselves and society in general.
