Where's the Pony?
Today I want to talk to you about how to use this Covid-19 crisis to your own advantage. I know that might sound a little strange.
Watch the video or read the article below to learn what I mean.
You may be extremely worried about how you're going to pay your rent or mortgage, how you’re going to put food on the table. Those are really valid concerns.
You may be grieving all the changes that are happening. You may have already lost a loved one or be concerned that someone you love may be at risk of contracting Covid-19. Of course, all your concerns are valid and real.
No matter where you are, there is a way to come at this situation that might serve you better than fear and worry will.
Is This Epidemic Really Unprecedented?
I've heard many people say this COVID-19 situation is unprecedented. Well, actually it's not.
There is plenty of evidence in human history about global and regional epidemics.
When European explorers came to North America, they brought with them smallpox which killed many Native Americans. Their bodies had never been exposed to smallpox, and they did not have the antibodies for it. Many native people died in that regional epidemic.
After the First World War, soldiers were coming back home from Europe brought with them the Spanish Flu. Many people died around the world.
I have pictures of my family members who were soldiers in the Civil War. We’re Southern, so they were on the losing side. They lived through very tough times. My great-grandparents were teenagers during the Civil War up in Virginia, where the armies would go back and forth, and they went hungry during and after the war. And they survived those hard times.
What we are going through now has many precedents in human history. It’s just the first time many of us have gone through anything like this.
Human Beings Are Adaptable
What I know about humans is that we are an extremely adaptable species.
We are actually designed to adapt to changes. That's one of the brilliant things about being a human being.
Whether you're in loss or fear, whether you're curious about what all of this change is going to bring about, life will never be the same. As the Coronavirus makes its way around the world, people, institutions, and systems are being changed forever.
Look for the Pony
No matter where you are in your personal journey with COVID-19, this is a time to look for the pony.
What do I mean by that? There's a story that two children were presented with a room full of poop.
The pessimist sat down and started crying. The optimist got in there with a shovel and started shoveling the poop.
The researchers asked, “What are you doing?!?”
The optimist said, “There is so much poop in here, there's got to be a pony somewhere!”
The question to ask is, “Where's the pony in this situation for you?”
This little story is supposed to be based on real social psychology research. I have never found the study, but I believe it could be true.
The Hit-and-Run and the Head Injury
When I first learned to look for the pony was back in 1996.
I was living in Atlanta having gone there hoping to work with some Olympians. At that point I was a sports mental peak performance expert for athletes. That strategy didn't really work, and I wound up doing healing work instead.
One gorgeous Sunday afternoon in June, I was riding down the highway in Atlanta with six lanes of traffic going each way.
Out of the blue, I got hit by a drunk driver who had spun across six lanes to hit only me. He missed everybody else on the highway and hit me.
My car crashed into the retaining wall, spun, and hit twice more. The drunk driver was able to drive his car away creating a hit and run accident.
I had a three-point head injury. If you know anything about head injuries, you know that the brain really does not like getting knocked about.
I thought I was okay for a few days and then it was really evident, I was not okay.
I had a brain injury, wasn't able to work, and had a lot of mood swings which happens with brain injuries. I would do silly things like put paper towels in the freezer. Sometimes I wasn't sure if I'd remember to put on my underwear or brush my teeth.
Because of my education and experience with training and using the power of the subconscious mind, I knew that I could program my mind for the outcomes I wanted to create. Even though my brain was not working very well, I worked to program it for health and recovery every day. Eventually, it made a difference and I recovered!
Because I couldn't work, I couldn't pay my bills while I was getting my brain back online. It was a very, very difficult time for me.
One day the phone got cut off. That was scary!
I realized, “I have got to find some way to have some money since I can't work right now.”
The idea of “I know there's somebody who would like to help me right now” came to me as an inspiration.
I began programming my mind with that thought – every day, over and over.
Soon that person showed up! It was a family member who had just inherited some money. She was very generous and wanted to help me by lending me the money I needed. That helped get me through the healing period and back on my feet.
I was able to pay her back once I was able to go back to work. It served her, and it served me. It would not have happened if I had not been desperate enough to look for the resources, disciplined in training my mind to affirm and see what I wanted to have happened, and willing to receive another person's contribution to me.
Self-Interest, Compassion, and Offering to the Divine
Now is an opportune time to be deeply interested in taking care of yourself. If you can't take care of yourself, you can't help anybody else.
That's very, very obvious now. This is really an amazing time to ramp up your self-development and growth - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
If there's anything I would really like to say about this situation we're in, it’s this, “Don't let this opportunity pass by you.”
Take advantage of it. If there's something you've been wanting to develop within yourself, work on it as you develop more compassion for yourself and for others.
I know that most of the people I talk to are very sensitive and caring people. They have open hearts and are likely becoming brokenhearted by what's happening to people all over the planet - losing jobs, not able to feed themselves or their families, getting sick, dying.
It's heartbreaking. Having compassion for yourself and compassion for others, allowing your heart to be broken, and to keep going is really important now.
So is offering the whole situation, your grief, and your heartbreak up to the Divine.
This is something that Tosha Silver teaches. You can find her website here.
Offering your fears and concerns to the Divine takes you beyond your ego into the soul of acknowledging that you are part of something much greater than yourself.
When you give up your concerns, your worries, and your stress to the Divine, the Divine knows what to do with it. The Divine put you here in this situation and can move you through it if you ask and allow that to happen.
Jeannette Maw’s Three Money Reminders
One more tool before we end today. I have mentioned Jeannette Maw before.
She is a Law of Attraction coach, and she has a wonderful podcast this week, about three money reminders.
I'll put the link in the PS to Jeannette Maw’s podcast if you would like to listen for yourself.
She teaches statements to say to yourself about what you want to attract.
One is about money or about anything you want to create - say to yourself, “There's plenty more where that came from.”
I listened to a speaker today who was talking about the situation with toilet paper. She said, “The toilet paper that used to be on the shelves at the store still exists.” Now it's just in somebody's basement. It's not on the shelves at the grocery store. There will be more toilet paper. There's plenty more where that came from.
Another critical thing that Jeannette talks about is the feeling that you already are or have what you desire. It is key to attracting what you want into your life because reality responds to the vibration of your thoughts and feelings and actions.
For instance, you could say, “I am already rich”, and really feel that.
“I am already resourced.”
“I have the money and food that I need.”
“I'm already healthy.”
When you get into the vibration of what you desire, it has to come to you, because you're a vibrational match with it. It’s Universal Law. It may not show up exactly the way you thought it would, but it will show up.
If you're in worry, doubt, or fear (which I totally get as I’ve been there myself, and I do a lot of work to stay out of that particular state), it’s time to work your way out of that pit. Going there will not get you where you want to go.
Feeling that you're already resourced, that you're already abundant, feeling that you're already healthy will actually draw to you the resources, the people, and the opportunities that will help you be that.
That's it for today. I would love to hear your comments about this. Let me know how you're doing.
I just want to remind you that there is invisible and visible help all around you. Look for it and find the pony.
I'll talk to you next time.
P.S. You can find Jeannette Maw at her website here. Her podcast about the Three Money Reminders can be found here. Enjoy!