By: Charles Joseph
Goliath. Do you know him? I didn’t say do you know of him, Do you know him? The answer to this question is for you, the reader, to decide.
Goliath was a giant compared to his opponents in the Bible. Hew was almost undefeatable. Almost.
How much of your own problems do you create for yourself? Did that rude person really have to come home with you and taunt you to take it out on your spouse, kids, dog? What about that person that hurt you? Are you still waking up angry about it
years later? Have you set goals that are wildly out of reach? Perhaps you haven’t even set goals because in your mind they are unattainable.
But are those goals unattainable? Or have you backed off of them time and again because of their Goliath-like stature? The Goliaths that people create in their minds are often a matter of ideas that they have built up in their minds about the problem.
Sure, stress, heart-ache, frustration, and sometimes even powerlessness are all a part of the journey of life. But it only took one stone from David’s slingshot to take Goliath’s life. One. Stone. In the same way it only takes one decision, one thought, one idea, one inspirational moment to destroy those daunting challenges.
Where do challenges come from you ask? The mind. Yes. The mind. There is a Goliath in us all. But there is also a David. So you may wake up in the morning and decide that you are already tired, stressed out, and frustrated. So how is it possible that things can get any better? You have already made up your mind!
Let’s take a look through that lens for a moment. The dog chewed up your nice work shoes. You panic. You were right. Today is going to be stressful. Then you walk to the kitchen and the automatic coffee maker didn’t turn on. But, oh no, you don’t have time to make any coffee right now while you decide how to make your outfit presentable for the presentation that you have to give today. You arrive at work just in time for your boss to tell you that he needs you to increase your production starting today. There is a new system in place, and he needs you to implement it in a very short period of time. Why even smile? Except for one you forced across your face when he told you that.
So yes, in reality, this would make it to be a stressful day. You were right. But sometimes being right isn’t the best approach. If you listen to your inner critic you will go the whole day without any joy and every little thing that goes wrong will be an absolute
irritant.
Let’s look at it through a different lens. Fortunately, giving a presentation may come easier to you than preparing for it. You were able to get coffee once you got to the office. You had another pair of nice shoes to wear to work. You can’t do anything about the dog’s affinity for the finer shoes in life. And then there is the new system implementation. You do what you can with what you’ve got. You get home and instead of being angry about the day, you laugh a little, warm up some food, take abath and call it a day.
What is the difference here? In the first scenario you took reallife problems and made them into the image of Goliath. All day you may have thought about why your day has to be so hard and that no one understands what you are going through.
In the latter scenario you accept what is, maintain a sense of humor, and plow through the day not being distracted by the emotions taunting you. You took that smooth stone in your hand and you slayed the enemy one thought at a time. You didn’t let a negative perception of reality destroy your well-being.
Stay the course, oh reader. Know that there is power in you. Accept the difficulties in stride. But always remember that each little thought is like a stone. You can either slay your inner negativity with it or you can simply set your stones in a basket while the enemy works within you to destroy the balance and peace that you can otherwise have in any situation.
By: Charles Joseph
