Recession/Progression – Why Not Be Grateful for It All?

 It's easy to enjoy progression. Advancing in some personal skill set, watching your child get steadier on his feet, seeing your company win a big contract, having your investment portfolio increasing every month – very happy-making. Easy peasy.

But what about recession? What is there to enjoy about that? What keeps us from being grateful for all the recessions, the set-backs?

My first training as a Senior Trainer for the More To Life Weekend: I was so chuffed about finally reaching a goal for which I had been striving. After the training was over, I sank into an emotional recession, called Brad Brown (my mentor and friend) and told him I didn't have it in me to continue training. The experience wasn't what I thought it would be, and I just wasn't up to doing it ever again. I was completely serious, depressed, and full of doubt about my ability to read Reality … that being a Senior Trainer was a personal delusion, that I didn't really have what it took to effect the kind of change I saw Brad and Roy (his business partner) generate in training after training.

What unfolded was surprising. What I hadn't realized was that, indeed, I DID have an illusion, a fantasy about how trainings would progress, and how I would BE and what I would DO during that progression. My mind had a lot of unnoticed demands – "I should always be wise and profound, THEY should always be astounded by their own nobility and blown away by the opportunities for advancement in their lives, I should never have to 'feel' my way through an interaction (even though that's what I really Love doing), and THEY should never give me too much static." And of course, there was more, much more.

Bottom line, the Only thing that keeps me from being grateful for my recessions is my demand that IT be different from what IT IS. And it never Is different from What IT IS. So I can only sink into more and more powerlessness in my attempt to change 'What IS' into 'What ISn't' – 'What IS' always wins the contest of what's Real.

So can I not take the time after a great outlay of energy to contemplate my strengths and challenges - 

thereby solidifying the learnings from that experience and increasing my personal effectiveness? Can I not take the time when my toddler meets the floor unexpectedly to cuddle and nurture? Can I not become more judicious about writing proposals, so they get accepted?  Can I not become more realistic about the world fiscal picture, and hence become wiser in the ways of the world, wiser about embracing the rhythm of life?

Progressions promote advancement. Recessions promote solidity. We need both; why not get good at both, be grateful for both? They are both temporary.

PS  Recessions come more frequently and last longer when I don't maximize the opportunity they provide, when I don't use that time to contemplate the Reality of who I am, who I am not, course corrections I want to make. The same goes for countries.