4 Ways to Make Peace with Where You Are

When I started working for my last company, I hated the job. It was, in my opinion a non-challenging job with no opportunity to learn and utilize new skills or to grow in the position. I felt stuck, I felt cheated. But since my last job was basically the same, I also felt powerless to change the situation. In my frustration, I acted out. I was the rebel of the department. I had a chip on my shoulder that I dared folks to try to knock off. I took as much time off as I possibly could and when I was at the office, I shirked my responsibility as much as possible. It did give me a temporary feeling of power, but in the end it backfired. I was placed on probation at the company and didn’t get a raise when performance reviews came around.

Then one day it occurred to me – “This is where I am right now. Even if this isn’t where I want to end up, I have to make the best of the situation as it stands in order to move forward to something else. If I am here, it has to be a part of my journey.”

This discovery totally transformed my experience with that job. I started noticing how delightful my coworkers were. I started to realize that the ease of the job allowed time for working on things that moved me towards where I am now - a noted life and relationship coach, interfaith minister, inspirational speaker and internet radio show host. Along the way, the lessons I learned about life through that position continue to serve me in my current work.

One of those lessons inspired this article. I made peace with where I was.

Many of us, instead of allowing the current of life to take us to our next destination, have our oars in the water and we are paddling against the current. And our resistance to our current situation is making us a little crazy. We are putting in a lot of effort to try to force things to be different than they are and it’s really getting us no where. In my effort, I left one job that I felt held no promise for me and landed right in another one that felt the exact same way. I was so focused on the lack of what I wanted that I stayed right there in the lack of what I wanted.

Have you done like this? Went from one bad relationship to another where the only difference was the person you were involved with? Went from one business opportunity to the next with only a modicum of success, if any, in any of them? Started making more money only to have more bills pile up? Searched for your purpose or niche in life only to feel as if you were just spinning your wheels?

How did that feel? Tiring, I bet. Actually, I know!

The ability to rest comes when you can make peace with your current situation and understand that it’s only temporary. As it is said, weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. When you can accept the place you are in this moment, you stop working against the flow of life – you stop paddling upstream. Then the insights, inspirations, opportunities and answers can start flowing more smoothly to you. You start seeing how you got here and you start seeing ways you can continue to move forward. You see your gifts and how to use them. You see the ways that today is blessing you. You see your silver lining in the dark cloud and you start to see that dark cloud giving way to the sunshine of your true nature. Now the path is clearer and your days are brighter.

Here are some ways you can start to make peace with where you are:

1. Relax and be easy with yourself - You are where you are. There is no judgment in that. You don’t have to be so hard on yourself. You don’t have to beat up on yourself. There really is no rule that says you must have accomplished certain things by a certain point in your life. Release the thoughts that tell you that somehow you are a bad person because you are not where you want to be. Things happen in life and you responded as best you could. Remind yourself that you made the best decisions you could with the information you had at the time and its ok. You’ve learned and grown and have more wisdom now than you did before. You are still a worthy being and God is still there working things out with you and for you.

2. This too shall pass – Nothing is permanent in life. Since this has manifested, it’s already the past. You can start now planning for a new tomorrow. You can remember your dreams and begin to focus on them again. Or you may have a new dream that you can set your mind upon.

3. What are the blessings I have and am experiencing in this situation? – Many times we are so focused on the negatives of our situation that we forget that a coin always has two sides. There is good in this situation too. There are people you may not otherwise have met, lives you might not otherwise have touched or been touched by. There are understandings that could only come from a situation such as this. You can recognize that it’s all been worked out for you and you can’t get it wrong. You just give yourself more chances to get it right.

4. Remember God’s got it all under control – You are right where you are supposed to be, to get what you are supposed to get, to go where you are destined to be. The more you resist, the longer to you keep yourself of experiencing God’s best for you. You can rest in the fact that every time you let go and let God, things always work out for the best. You don’t see the big picture, but there is someone who does and it is God’s utmost desire for you to experience the best that life has to offer you and is taking you through the path that will prepare you for that best and allow you to give the best back to those coming behind you.

David said, “Even though I may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” And as God was there for David, God is also there with you through all you are experiencing. And God wants you to know that when you make peace with where you are, goodness and mercy are right there to bless you – right where you are.