ON THE UPSIDE - #3 ~>

On the Upside?…

Yes, there always is an UPSIDE, although I’m intrigued [sometimes frustrated] that so many people seem to really need help to find it, focus on it, and foster it.  My hope is these writings help to provide some insight on what it takes to paddle upwards, rather than merely floating along in the downstream. Why choose to live average, ordinary lives … why choose to accept mediocre momentum, or unacceptable, even unethical behaviour from others?

Sure, each of us has our own map of the world we live in. My reality is based on the sum total of MY experiences, MY set of values, MY judgements, MY thoughts and ideas; maybe quite different I suspect from YOUR experiences, YOUR values and the story you take from those. That’s ok. The point is that each of us creates those stories – our own unique reality; so if you made up your reality as you see it today, that means you can just as easily create a new reality if you want to. How?

Did you know that we have around 2 million bits of info coming at us every second, yet we can only process 132 bits, or approximately 7 chunks of information at any one time? This means that we are constantly deleting, distorting and generalising this info; choosing what is relevant and what’s not, so we can make sense of our world. So, what we allow in and what we leave out creates the story we choose to make up as ‘our reality’; most of this happening at a subconscious level.

Maybe it’s time to ask yourself if what you’re leaving out, changing and generalising about, is working for you. How’s your reality map of the world? What important truths are you choosing to filter out?  Are you waiting for the good part to start? Are you allowing others to manipulate your reality?

Imagine if … you stopped waiting for someone else to add the good stuff; stopped pointing the blame fingers at others; stopped expecting to wake up tomorrow to a miraculously new and better world, community, council, street, house, job, relationship, body, or bank account.

You see ... life doesn’t come with a remote … you have to get up off your arse and change it yourself. If you are not happy with how things are and the negative results that causes, it’s up to YOU to drive those changes.

Imagine if … you decided to simply do that; just wake up one day and decide to shake off the crap that drags you down, so you never feel like that again. Choose to take a positive proactive approach, to explore alternative options, to value yourself enough to know you deserve better, and to go out and actively drive change. BE the change you want to see and have in your lives, and in your community.

Well you CAN do that TODAY … yep, just like that. Every day is a new beginning full of opportunities far greater than what you will find sitting in your downstream dingy, complaining about the status quo, just waiting for something big to land in your lap, or someone else to do something positive.

So what are YOU waiting for?  The first step towards changing your reality is to decide that you are not going to accept the way things are. 

Changing your life is up to YOU; you’re in charge of your own story. 

Changing a community needs a collective group of passionate, pro-active people to step up, speak out, and demand stronger leadership and ethical decision making. Decide that you, as a community are sick of waiting for good things to happen.  Make it happen!

Don’t leave it to one or two representatives to do all the upstream paddling … jump in the boat, grab a paddle, and be the strong support team for those who ARE ready and willing to drive much needed change.

 Choose to live life on the upside … the world has enough downsiders.

Jilinda Lee

Change Champion / Leadership Coach.

[Published in 'THE BRIDGE' Newspaper - 14 May 2015]