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What’s Your Viewpoint- Mountain Top or Valley Floor?

Taken from Coach's Corner Newsletter,
July 2007 edition

What’s Your Viewpoint- Mountain Top or Valley Floor?

Hero’s choose to focus on their purpose, which usually lies on the other side of pain.

There’s a old movie called “ It’s a Wonderful Life” where the main character, George Bailey suddenly encounters huge debt, along with legal and business trouble. Trouble the likes of he has never seen. He is even faced with going to jail for a crime he did not commit. He could not see a way to support his family. The odds are stacking up against him and seem insurmountable. He’s desperate. He feels that everything he as worked for is about to be lost, and there is absolutely nothing he can do to get it back.

He is about to commit suicide when an angel intervenes, and shows him what life would be like if he had never been born. The people he had helped in his life went without help because he wasn’t there. His brother dies as a child because he wasn’t there to save him. Hundreds of men on a transport ship die because his brother wasn’t there to save them. George's wife remained an old maid and never married.

In the movie, George begins to see the value his life brought to all those people in his hometown- despite his current problems. So he asks the angel to bring him back to reality. At the end of the movie, all the people George had helped rally around him to lend him a hand. In his darkest times he had what he needed to survive.

He realizes that all of the good that he has done in life actually outweighs the pain he is currently experiencing. He also realizes it isn’t about how pleasant life is that makes it worthwhile, it’s about the value he brings to the lives of all those around him.

So when George decided not to commit suicide, his horrible situation had not changed. The only thing that changed was what he chose to focus on. Once his focus had changed, he started believing that his life did have significance and a purpose. After he got to the top of the mountain to see the view, he saw everything in a whole new light. You could say now he was looking through hero’s eyes.
So, what position are you viewing life: mountain top or valley floor?

Survivor of Nazi camps, Viktor Frankl, says this;
“ in some ways, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning”.
We always have the power to focus on what we want, no matter what is going on in the world around us.

In his book the Art of Happiness, the Dalai Lama, writes
“ happiness, therefore, does not come from the elimination of pain, but from the realization of purpose.”

So you don’t have to have an angel speak to you in a dream to give you a mission or purpose in life. You , on the other hand, have the option to chose to believe that there is something worth accomplishing. It may be on the other side of your current situation, no matter what that may look like.
Focus on the best, and allow it to manifest.

Cathy Clark is a Personal Professional coach with over 7 years experience helping people learn how to utilize the Law of Attraction in their career, business, or just plain Life - get what you want, not what you don't. Cathy can be reached through her website, www.coachingwithcathy.com or by email, cathy@coachingwithcathy.com.

Note: All articles are copyright protected. You have my permission to use any article for your website or printed material as long as it is displayed in its entirety (unedited) including author credits and a link to this website (where applicable). If you have any questions or requests on what you would like us to write about, email Cathy at cathy@coachingwithcathy.com.

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