I wish I could take credit for these words but I can't... I found them deep and thought provoking as I deal with life and try to remain positive. I hope you enjoy!

The Obstacles of Life by Bill Nelson

Life presents us with a wide array of opportunities. Life provides a great deal of enjoyment and happiness. Life teaches a variety of lessons And life brings its own set of challenges. There is probably nothing here you don't already know. But what about those days when everything that can possibly go wrong does. Those days when things just go that little bit left of center to the point of annoying the daylights out of you.

Hopefully these types of days are very few and far between, but the reality is we have to deal with a day like this every now and then. What are some of the key obstacles of life and how do they have an ability to influence each other?

Rather than try and cover every possible scenario and situation that could cause these days of frustration to come about, and then to grow and get worse, we are just going to focus on four areas:

Four areas that as single entities can slow you down; and four areas that also have the ability to flow from one to another to create a decrease in momentum of quite significant proportions.

These four obstacles of life are:

o Fear

o Worry

o Anger

o Doubt

Let's first take a look at each one individually and then also see how they can lead from one to the other.

1. Fear

Most of the time fear comes about because we believe that we are about to suffer, in some way or another, from what the future will bring

The fear can sometimes be generated by fact, and at other times, by perception. But the bottom line is, we know how we feel when we are fearful.

But how do we overcome this fear?

Face your fears and overcome those fears. Sounds great in theory but is a lot harder in practical reality. Nevertheless, the concept is probably not far from the truth.

A word of caution: if you are going to face your fears, just take your time and do it slowly and methodically.

2. Worry

Life can somehow get us to worry about many different things. Some of us worry a lot and some of us have the ability not to get to worried about anything.

But what is it that causes us to worry the most? Well we all know that there are a million answers to this question, but let me share this with you: our fear, or what has generated that fear, also can get us to worry.

So the cycle gains momentum from one obstacle to the next. Fear can make us start to worry.

3. Anger

Not sure about you, but I can get angry about some things that would not affect anyone else; while on the other hand, I don't get angered by things that I know drive others into uncontrollable tirades.

A great many things can generate anger, such as situations, thoughts, people, failure and frustration.

But sometimes anger is generated as a defense mechanism: a mechanism that is supposedly trying to help when we sometimes get spooked by other emotions, such as fear and worry.

So now our cycle has three stages to it:

Fear triggers worry Fear and worry can generate anger

4. Doubt

Life continues to roll on, and as it does there can be many reasons why the element of doubt could be generated.

o Doubt about our ability to be successful

o Doubt about our ability to get the job done

o Doubt about our ability to reach the levels to which we aspire

o Doubt about what the future holds

o Doubt about whether you can be a great Partner/Parent/Friend

Once again, my doubts are (no doubt) different to your doubts. And our friend's doubts would be different again. So doubts can be generated by many different reasons, which are not necessarily right or wrong. But what about when our doubt is generated by our fear, worry, and anger?

What happens then? Well what happens is we continue to add another negative element into our cycle of obstacles of life. Individually theses emotions can slow our progress through life. But start to see them together and they have the ability to apply the brakes to life and apply them hard.

My message through all of this is to make sure that you are not your own worst enemy in this. Take care that you are not generating and perpetuating a cycle of emotions that will see your obstacles of life become stronger and longer.

The Journey Continues

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