Turn a Setback at Work into a Blessing

A client of mine was feeling very low. She was a business owner and had lost two clients on the same day, was maxed out on her credit cards, and started to panic about how she was going to pay her bills this month. And of course, she was wondering why the world apparently didn’t yet fully appreciate what she was offering.

All she wanted to do was pull the covers over her head and hide out until it all got magically resolved.

We’ve all been there in one way or another or at some time in our work and other areas of our lives (it is all connected). Feeling that there is not enough for us, that the spigot with our name on it has been turned off, that we are left out of the party. And we can feel this way not just about money but about love, about attention from our boss or co-workers at work, about where the heck our career is headed.

This brings to mind one of my favorite scenes from the movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The rebels have lost all their ships but one banged up outdated one, only a handful of rebels are on that ship, and they are looking quite rag-tag and the worse for wear. Luke Skywalker is dead. Their prospects are apparently bleak.

Rey looks around as her energy sinks and says to Leia, “How do we rebuild the rebel force from this?” Leia smiles at her and says, “We have everything we need.”

We always have everything we need...

Ahhh. I love this because it is a reminder that we always have everything we need. The trick is that what we have may not be what we think we should have. Or we may not be able to see what we have because we are looking for something else.

It is a paradox that when we begin to know what we are at a deep level and see what we have now and focus on gratitude for it all, we have more and more for which to express gratitude. This is because we each contain the creative power of the universe within us, an unlimited source that keeps on giving, but we need to acknowledge and activate it to get it flowing.

Stuff is going to happen, and we of course have challenges large and small to deal with. What helps us deal is to know that we already have all we need and then to connect with what that is and start giving that out to all those around us.

Steps to Turning a Setback into a Blessing

My client and I identified what she needed to soothe herself, to get re-grounded (for her that was some quiet time and a walk in nature), re-connected to why she was doing her work (who she served and what inspired her to do it), and designed a way she could provide that service right now without waiting (give a resource to her current and past clients while blessing them).

How do we begin to activate our power to address any situation using that creative powerhouse within?

1. Breathe and do something that grounds and supports you.
2. Say to yourself “I have everything that I need.”
3. Do an inventory of who you are (qualities you have now or want to activate like love, power, peace, creativity, joy, compassion) and what assets you have (such as money, time, things to sell or exchange for something you need, support from others, talents, connections, skills you have or can learn). Write it all down.
4. Feel what it feels like to be and have all of that. No judgment about your list because it is all wonderful and will bless you and the world.
5. Design a way to give and radiate what you have and what you are to those around you starting now. Start small and go from there.
6. Start a practice of writing down five things a day that are gong well in your life and work and FEEL the gratitude for these wonders. You are blessed!