Disappointment is not limiting. It’s an invitation for creative expression not yet explored and experienced.
– Alice Percy Strauss
And so began the Yogatsu® March 2016 newsletter. I have known the author, Alice Percy Strauss since moving to Las Vegas in 1997. The timing of the arrival of her newsletter could not have been better. I had just been informed that my application to speak at TEDxUNLV had not been accepted. I was surprised, but not shocked since the event was less than 4 weeks away and I had not heard that I was selected. For personal reasons and others, I felt the topic of Disappointment was an excellent topic to follow my blog on Failure.
Consider the Disappointment Mediation this week’s Dr. Success Challenge.
DISAPPOINTMENT by Alice Percy Strauss
There is no arguing the fact that disappointment is painful. After struggling through many years of disappointment, Abraham Lincoln wrote: “I have been too familiar with disappointment to be very much chagrined.” In other words, he had a realistic view of life. He faced tremendous tragedies and many disappointments yet he kept putting one foot in front of the other. Lincoln had little sense of entitlement or victimhood. This man’s humble roots and unvarnished view of himself didn’t stop him from achieving his ultimate goal of freedom for all.
What is so striking about Lincoln is that he used his disappointments as lessons in diligence and discipline. His story is really one of integration rather than transformation. He didn’t accomplish great things as a result of getting rid of, ignoring, denying or distracting himself from the melancholy that haunted him for most of his life. Instead, Lincoln integrated the energy of those dark emotions into the motivation he needed to continue moving steadily forward.
Like Lincoln, it’s important that we learn to become comfortable using the energy of our disappointments as fuel to manifest our goals. By emulating the way Lincoln used his heart to train his mind, we too can use disappointment as the fuel that powers us into our own individual and unique form of greatness.
DISAPPOINTMENT MEDITATION
- With each exhalation relax your body, releasing tension where tightness or contraction is felt. Breathe easily and rest softly.
- When breathing is gentle and rhythmic, bring your mind to a recent disappointment. As you breathe in slowly, bring the memory into clear focus. As you exhale, allow your body to soften as you embrace the incident, knowing your life has significantly changed for the better, in many ways, with that unfulfilled expectation.
- Experience a sense of great personal joy as you look back and realize that your life has not only gone on, it has become greater as a direct result of accepting and integrating disappointment. Allow the past to merge into the newness of this moment in wholehearted appreciation for what it has presented.
- Allow your mind and body to relax as you fully absorb what you’ve just experienced. Know you have the ability and power to alter your perspectives at any time. Feel the lightness of being present. Enjoy the moment. Resume your day with clarity and insight. Namaste Gratitude – for your mind’s willingness to face, and then integrate, disappointment as the fuel for creating your greatest moments.
Don’t Die Principle: You teach what you need to learn is alive and well! #DontDieTeach
Be Brave, Andrea
