With the (not-so) new job, I travel a lot more. As with any change life throws at you, the choice is completely yours as to how you respond and react. You can either resist or rejoice. You can either relapse or rebound. You can either rejuvenate or reverse.
There are two contradictory phrases I adhere to.
1. You make your own destiny
2. You can’t control what happens to you
Maxim #1 embodies my zealous pursuit of excellence. If I want something to happen, I need to go *make* it happen. I shouldn’t expect a job; I need to earn one. If I want a better job, I don’t wait around for a promotion or some lucky break, it’s up to me to work harder. I don’t need to find a better partner in life, I need to *be* a better partner in life.
Maxim #2 sounds like it conflicts with the first one, but in reality it completes it. The “destiny you make” takes into account the things that “happen to you.” It is the choice of how you react that puts the control squarely in your hands. The phrase “mind like water” seems appropriate to mention here.
I could complain about the travel… I could be all “woe is me, look at me, I have to stay up late to catch this flight” or focus on all the many seemingly bad things that can happen. I still do it sometimes, of course, but if I catch myself I try to stop. I don’t like it when people continually focus on the negatives, because eventually, it’s that negativity that defines them. I don’t want to descend into someone who’s always seeing the negative of any given situation. Because you don’t just see the negative – you be the negative.
So what are some good things about the travel? The frequent flyer miles are awesome. It helps fund a quality family vacation. I get to meet fantastic people and see neat places. I broaden my horizons with new experiences, weird foods, different cultures and did I mention the food? My family misses me, and I them, but that makes our reunion that much better. I find myself more available to do things on “me time” like see a movie by myself.
But what I’ve found is the more I concentrate on the positives that are all around me… my life is just plain better. The same circumstances have happened, but in one situation, I’m down, gloomy and upset, but in the other I’m happy, upbeat and ready for more opportunities.
The other revelation is that as I’m sitting there noticing the positive things, not only am I happier, but it seems more positive things happen. It’s almost like the Universe is watching when it sends things people’s way.
Example: Let’s say I’m sitting at a blackjack table. I’m having fun, maybe losing, maybe winning. Someone comes up and watches a little bit and comments “I never do well at these table games – the odds are all wrong.” He sits down next to me anyway. We chat it up, he starts to play and soon we’re talking about work, a local show, having some fun with the dealer.
As we play, I get a blackjack. Huge win! The guy next to me sees it and says “See what I mean? I never get those.” We continue playing and I get a few others in the course of about 45 minutes. In fact, I had an extremely good run of the cards in that amount of time.
The guy gets ready to cash in and is still negative about the experience. He saw me take $100 and it turned into about $350 in that hour. He comments about that, too, and says he’s never that lucky. “These table games are a total ripoff, you know? I can’t believe I wasted my time. But look at you, seems that’s always the way with me – the guy next to me gets all the luck.”
I ask him how he did as he’s cashing out. He had turned $100 into $200 in that same time frame. I said “you did great! You doubled your money!” His response is a pointed finger at my winnings and said “yeah, but look at you. These table games suck. I never win at them.”
Here’s what I think about that situation. I envision the Universe sitting around having a drink with the Sun, the Earth and the Moon, just shooting the breeze. The Universe says “watch this – see that guy down there? I’m going to send some good vibes his way, double his money, and see how he reacts.” So the Universe sends some good luck to the guy and he sees the reaction from the man, and wonders why he even bothered in the first place.
But the Universe sees MY reaction and says “now, there’s a grateful guy. I think I’ll send some more good stuff his way – he’s at least thankful, even when what I send isn’t that great. He’s a member of my Frequent Smiler program and gets Elite status.”
Universe — thank you. I’m always looking for the things you send my way, no matter how small. I think it’s my job to find them.
The better I get at that job, the happier my life becomes.
Now that today’s life lesson is out of the way, I should do what every good blogger does – add pictures to your blog posts. So here are some pictures from my airport wifi experiences.
and
Ha! There’s positive things even in the very air that surrounds you!
will try again next time. Without the knife 
