From "Secrets to Creating Good Luck"

Secrets to Creating Good Luck

Overcoming Obstacles: Harvesting the Opportunities in Problems
         "When Life Hands You Lemons Make Lemonade"

You have probably seen this so many times before but... "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade." For that is the key to harvesting the opportunities that are hidden in the problems that come your way.

Look closer at what life is giving you and see if you can do something with that. For those who are the most successful in life are those who see more than others see in the situation and do something positive about it. Like diamonds glittering in the sand, it will take effort to find the opportunity but it is always there.

Good luck will almost ALWAYS come to you in the form of problems for you to solve. There is an ancient Chinese saying that "no problem comes to you without bearing a gift in its hands". The trick is to look past the problem to find the buried gift of opportunities to be seized and used. You must be ready to act on good luck when it comes. For if you are not ready to handle good luck, you are saying you really do not want it.

Practice solving the problems you have by making more space in your life, in your mind, and in your skills for the good luck you desire.

Once you act on creating good luck, you are showing the universe your seriousness and that it had better get busy working for you. This is better illustrated by an "real life example" of problems leading to opportunities that could scarcely be imagined, let alone made real.

How Getting Temporarily Fired Led to Permanent Job Security

Take the case of Roberta Guaspari, the violin teacher who started a music program for the inner city children of Harlem, NY, and upon whose life the movie "Music of the Heart" was based. When the funding was cut for her violin program by the school system, she fought to save it by putting on a recital featuring performances by her best students.

Despite initial enthusiasm, the recital was nearly cancelled when the theatre booked for their performance was so badly damaged that it had to be shut down. Yet at that moment, Carnegie Hall, hearing of Guaspari's heroic efforts, offered her their space for free and recruited several internationally renowned musicians to appear with the students.

The recital was successful enough to keep Guaspari's music program going for another three years. This attracted the movie and now the future of her music program is guaranteed. This all resulted from financial barriers paving the road to success.

Getting Lemonade from Lemons: Spiritual Problem Solving Techniques

Most times problems are simply a matter of how you look at them. Take this scene from the novel, Madame Bovary. Her husband was a doctor who was trying to make a name for himself by solving exotic diseases. A man came to him asking to be cured of his deformed "club foot" and he tried an experimental cure which proved to be a dismal failure.

The man had to have his foot removed and the doctor was disgraced... but the man was happy. The wooden foot he wore in place of his club foot was more comfortable and made it easier for him to walk. He thanked the doctor for his cure: for he viewed the doctor’s failure as his success.

Getting Off on the Right Foot to Solve Problems

The lesson of the "Club Foot" is that failure and success are often only a matter of opinion. "Club Foot" is also a handy way to remember the eight spiritually based problem solving techniques.

#1: Communication: So often problems are no really problems, they are matters of miscommunication. When a problem arises, firts be sure to verify all the facts of the situation.

It is quite possible that you have been misinformed and there really is no problem. Or it is possible that you misunderstood either the original communication or the one now and you have unrealistic expectations about the situation.

If so, now is the time to get everything out into the open: discuss things frankly and be listening as well as talking. Be sure that there really is a problem to be solved and be open to the opportunities that the problem presents.

#2: Let Go of Ego: When it comes to problem solving, if you have an ego that requires "Everyone Get Out", you have already diminished your ability to solve problems. For "Together Everyone Achieves More" (the true meaning of team work).

There is a synergy (combined powerful effect) from people working together to solve a problem that can result in goals being achieved in less time and with greater impact than can be had if a single person works on the problem alone.

People working alone can achieve great things... but they can achieve even greater things when they can "bounce there ideas off" others. So let go your ego and get out of your own way.

#3: Urgent or Important: So now you really do have a problem and that you are open to getting it resolved: now what? The first task is to assess the damage that the problem can cause. Is the problem urgent?

Most problems can be solved if there is enough time to solve them. If there is time, then workarounds can always be found... and often the workarounds lead you to a better solution than the one you first came up with.

Yet when time is not your friend, the next thing to assess is: is the problem important? Often time works against you simply to "squeeze out" what is not needed in your approach.

If you cannot do something in the time you have, then think about if you can eliminate what you do not have time for anyway. If you can, 99 times out of 100 you have lost nothing. For those other times, you will rely on these next techniques.

#4: Big Picture: Many times problems ask us to take a step back to look at the "Big Picture". Problems may be alerting you to the fact that you have departed from your perfected vision without even realizing it.

Most times problems come up because you are concentrating on what can go wrong with what you want (manifesting problems) instead of what can go right (the outcome that you desire).

Like the famous author Mark Twain said: "I had a lot of troubles in my life most of which never happened". Those who get the good luck they desire keep their attention fixed on their "Big Picture" so that it is the only thing they see.

They have a very clear idea of what kind of person they want to be, what kind of life they want to live, and what kind of things/events they want to manifest. As these "Big Picture" items are the only thing they can see there is not room for anything else, problems included.

#5: False Parameters: When comparing the "Big Picture" to the problem at hand, ask yourself: "What is not true about the problem? How does it not fit in with my Big Picture?". So often we get "sucked into" accepting society’s/other people’s perception of a problem and then think we must deal with it using their pre-packaged solutions.

Yet we are always free to reject another’s definition of the problem, to discard their means of solving it, and to find our own way of handling things. As Mr. Spock is fond of saying, "there are always alternatives".

* Finding alternatives is meant to stretch your brain, to make you look in different places, to hook you up with different people, or to make you alter your current relationships terms better for both of you.

* Finding altermatives is meant to help you create solutions which are better than what you have imagined. In fact, they are meant to help you find the best of all possible solutions!

* Finding alternatives is meant to lead you on the path in life that will create your greatest joy!

Every problem that, at first, seems insoluble becomes easy to solve once you remove the false parameters ("What’s wrong with this?") that you or others around you have attached to it.

#6: Only Part or the Whole: Asking "What’s wrong with this picture?" will get you to take a closer look at it. The questions to ask are:

"Is only part of my Big Picture effected by this problem? Or is the whole picture effected? Is there a better way to do what I am doing? Is there something in my Big Picture that I should consider changing?".

As you grow, your "Big Picture" will need to grow right along with you. It is always a good idea to check periodically that you still want what it is that you have asked for.

#7: Outcome Oriented Thinking: Part of the problem with traditional problem solving techniques is that they focus on the "WHY" of a problem and not on the "HOW" to solve it aspect.

The Problem of "WHY": Traditional problem solving assumes that when you know the cause of the problem then the solution comes from addressing the cause. Looking at the "WHY" of problems and solutions can get you trapped in circular thinking.

For the "WHY" of problems limits you to the solutions that match the "cause" of the problem. Yet although the "WHY" a problem gives you very valuable information, it usually does not tell you different ways of "HOW" to solve the problem. They only tell you the "tried-and-true" solutions which are probably lacking in the very creativity you need.

The Solution of "HOW": When you learn to think past the problem and focus on a desired outcome, you have shifted your thinking from "WHY" to"HOW". This enables you to solve problems by seeing past the obstacles to their solution.

Focusing on problems means focusing on obstacles. Focusing on outcomes means focusing on successful solutions... on the "HOW" part of the solution.

There is enormous power in moving away from "problem oriented" thinking and toward "outcome oriented" thinking. "Outcome oriented" thinking allows you to stop accepting problems exactly "the way that you are supposed to think of them, the way that everyone else does, the conventional way of doing so", etc. It frees you to break out of limiting patterns and solve the problem from the space of unlimited possibilities.

Here is how you get into "outcome oriented" mode:

When problems come up, immediately move past denial, and say to yourself: "I know from experience that this problem has to be simpler than it appears to be. How can I break this problem down into its component parts so that I can focus on the heart of the issue represented by this problem?"

Once you are sure that you understand the problem, say to yourself: "I am looking past the problem now toward the outcome that I want. What do I need to know/learn/do to achieve my outcome?"

Once you are sure that you are focused on the outcome, say to yourself: "I am totally focused on the outcome. How can I step back, look at the problem from a different perspective, question what I am seeing, and come up with a creative solution that achieves my desired outcomes?"

"Outcome oriented" problem solving is so effective is because it teaches you to tap into your own sources of divine creativity to create whatever it is that you desire. For once you learn to do that and can repeat the process over and over again at will, you will be able to create all that you desire... which is the greatest good luck of all.

#8: Turn it Over: If you are absolutely stuck inside a problem and cannot find your way out, then it is time to turn the problem over to the universe. This means you need to "turn it over" to your Higher Self (the inner part of yourself which is the source of your personal truth) and let it find the best outcome for you.

All you need to do is say "Higher Self, this problem looks insoluble to me. Yet I know it can be solved and I need your help to do so. Show me how to handle this problem so that I can achieve the outcome that I desire. Please show me how I can take back control of this situation. Give me some alternatives that are not only for my better good but for the highest good of all concerned".

If you let go, and let the God within you, take over, you will be able to move past any problem and manifest your desires. Trust and the good luck you need will come your way.

The important thing to remember in any problem solving situation is that it is ONLY temporary. You will get past the problem somehow, find a solution to it, and manifest the outcome that you desire.

From "Secrets to Creating Good Luck" by Ellen Mogensen