Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1128 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

7 Strategies for Life’s Many Challenges – Ask Gramps

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.

Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase wisdom and create a living legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1128 of our trek, and it is time for our Philosophy Friday series. Each Friday, we ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.

As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time where we can “Ask Gramps.” Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason are unable to. No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask Dad or Gramps questions about life in many areas.

We may mix it up a bit on our Friday episodes but will strive to keep them down to earth and enjoyable. If you have any questions that you would like to ask Gramps, please email them to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com.

So the question for this week is…

“Hey, Gramps, when God permits us to go through difficult times and struggles in our lives, how can we accept them and still enjoy life to the fullest?”

7 Strategies for Life’s Many Challenges

On both a personal level, as well as on a global scale, we all have to continually face challenges and hardships that test our emotional strength: illness, injuries, grief, unemployment, death, divorce, or even a brand-new venture with completely unknown outcomes. However, despite how brutally life might treat you, there are always a number of strategies that can be employed to help carry you through, and here are seven of the most effective ones.

1. Turn to face reality.

As human beings, we are masters of avoidance, and very often end up turning away from life’s challenges instead of facing them head-on. However, if you really want to enjoy life to the full, then you’ll need to start getting used to owning up to the truth. Once you learn to stop avoiding each of life’s hiccups, you’ll eventually find that life becomes easier, less scary, and a lot more manageable. Once you start seeing such a positive change in your life, you’ll then have even greater confidence that you can grow even further, and partaking in such journeys of personal growth is the backbone of living a satisfying life.

2. Embrace the way your life actually is.

The secret to life is not to want what you don’t have, but to actually want what you have. That is learning to be content in all circumstances. There is an immense feeling of freedom associated with taking life as it comes. Once you learn to simultaneously embrace the positive and negative aspects of your life, you’ll then have a real chance to enjoy life to the full and to value everything that the world has bestowed upon you. You’ll find that surrendering to the reality of who you really are truly gives you the opportunity to live up to your potential.

3. Don’t rush through life.

We’ve all heard the saying “Slow and steady wins the race,” but not many of us realize how important this approach to life really is. By constantly being in a hurry, we actually end up compromising our own success. If we get ahead of ourselves, then we’re bound to make a lot more mistakes. If we cut corners, we’re sure to end up paying a price for it later on. It is only through disciplined and incremental growth that we can make positive and lasting changes to our lives.

4. Be more grateful.

Many of us tend to count our worries a lot more often than we count our blessings and privileges. However, possessing such an attitude will diminish your ability to lead a happy and fulfilling life, since you’ll constantly be weighed down by negativity. An efficient recipe for emotional health and well-being is to recognize all the good that your life contains and to receive it with gratitude.

5. Stay close to all of your feelings.

Many times, we find our feelings confusing, terrifying, or hard to bear, so we try our hardest to keep them at a distance. However, by putting up a wall and choosing not to feel, we usually end up draining ourselves of the psychological energy that makes life pleasurable and meaningful. If we cease to feel anything, then we don’t only deprive ourselves of the growth that can come out of negative emotions, but we’ll also end up sucking all the fun out of life’s more positive experiences. Quite simply, when we stop feeling, we cease to be human beings and end up simply going through the motions.

6. Accept success and failure as parts of life’s journey.

Everyone who is alive is constantly learning, no matter how old they are. That’s why it’s important not to be too hard on ourselves and to accept that trying, succeeding, failing, and trying again is the only real way to instill lasting confidence in ourselves. No matter how successful or mature we become, our inner child will always require friends and mentors who’ll help see us through.

7. Take care of your loving relationships.

Relationships don’t just appear and disappear magically since they require a great deal of hard work and attentive care to help them grow and to keep them sustained. Mature love involves honoring our differences yet overcoming distance on practically a daily basis. It accepts the reality that every relationship will have its fair share of pain and suffering, but it also accepts that the only way to stay on track is through unyielding compassion. Learn to be more understanding, and your love will shine through, brighter than ever.

If you follow these 7 strategies, life may not be any easier, but you will find it a lot more enjoyable and fulfilling. God has given us all that we need to live a rich and satisfying life as we are told in:

2 Peter 1:3-7

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.  And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

Join us again next Friday for another question on our “Ask Gramps” episode. Our next trek is Mediation Monday, where we will help you reflect on what is most important in life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of the past 1127 daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you on Monday!