I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been busy preparing for and holding the first class in Define & Conquer 2013 and once again, the Law of Attraction has brought me the greatest group of people! What a class we have. They are going to Shake Things Up in 2013!

That’s kind of pertinent to the title of this post –  overcoming obstacles. One of the steps in planning your success achievement is to determine/define potential (or past) roadblocks/obstacles. “Why is this important?” you might ask. “Isn’t this focusing on negative things?” – to both these questions I would say “great questions”. Because it shows that you’re recognizing that the Law of Attraction brings you what you focus on. But as Abraham says is that to get the Law of Attraction to work for you in the way you want you really have to focus on the solutions not the problems. But often we don’t even recognize that there is a solution until we identify the problem. It’s similar also to Abraham talking about how when you know what you do NOT want, it’s very easy to know what you do want.

But that is not really where my focus was during those 7 days of running. Which, by the way extended so that I was able to do 2 marathons and 7 half-marathons in two weeks! That’s a really good accomplishment for me. When I was younger (alot younger) I once did 3 marathons in 14 days which I thought was pretty cool then but didn’t do all those half-marathons during the same time period). Even though I really wasn’t conscious of it, I was continually focusing on the solution – which was extremely simple at that moment in time – just keep moving forward – forward progress was what it was all about.

So, what obstacles did I run into? It was rather funny (even at the time) because I could recognize the Universe being very bored and playing a little game with me. Here’s what the dialogue between me and the Universe was like:

Terrie: “This isn’t so bad. I’ve made it through one day without problems.”

Universe: “Ok you – see how this feels”

Terrie: “Nuts (it really was another word but this is a family program) my upper back is hurting and it’s only 5 miles into the half-marathon”

Universe: “So you’re willing to put up with that huh – let’s see how you handle running without anything coming into your ears except the sound of your breathing and other people running by (ha ha – this will get her)”

Terrie: “I can’t believe it! My MP3 player fell in the portapotty. No way am I going to have to retrieve that. And I have 7 miles to go…arghh.. I’ve never run for that long without something in my ear – music or class or something. What am I going to do now?”

Universe: [After it’s done laughing its butt off about the portapotty event] “Well, I see Terrie is more resilient than I thought.. I was sure that losing the MP3 player would stop her. Hmmm…let’s see what else I can come up with.”

Terrie: “OW! What the heck – my ankle is hurting when I step on it and I don’t know why. I didn’t twist it or anything. And I have so many miles to go”

Universe: “This is getting frustrating – I thought that the ankle pain would definitely get her to stop but it didn’t.  What’s next I wonder……”

Terrie: “It’s so blasted cold, wind and wet. I’m soaked and my fingers hurt from being cold. Thsi is no fun anymore.”

Universe: “Darn, she didn’t like the weather issues but kept on going anyway. What is it with her? I’m just going to keep piling on and see if she has a breaking point”

Terrie: “I can hardly walk now that I’ve finished the marathon. I don’t know what I’ll be like tomorrow – not sure I can run again.”

Universe: “Shucks, I was sure when she was so sore after the marathon that she’d stop this foolishness and give in to me. But no, she’s back out there again today. Crap…oops”

Terrie: “My knee is really really hurting me. I may have to walk for some miles. But I’m not going to give up now. I’m almost done and all these folks (especially Parvaneh and Chris) have been so supportive of me. I can do this.”
And on and on it went. But you know what?

My focus and desire to complete these events overcame everything. And although my only solution at that time was to just “keep going” which is so simple, I was only able to “just keep going” because of what I really really wanted – which was to complete these events. When you have a burning desire (even if it’s something small like this that, although small, took alot of effort), your focus is on getting to the other side no matter what it takes.  So no matter what mountain or stream or valley is in your way, you will get across to the other side because that is what you are meant to do – AND you are focused on achieving something, not avoiding something. Meaning – my focus was on achieving running these events for 7 days in a row (and as an aside completing a marathon before the year was up). My focus was NOT on the pain, the soreness, the absence of sound in my ears – those were all things I didn’t want and so they helped me hone in more on the thing I did want – to get to the end. I did NOT focus on lack or the Problem, I focused on the Solution – getting to the other side and constantly asked this question “what will it take to get to the other side?” In this case it was simply “forward motion/forward progress”.

Develop a plan for meeting obstacles with a different perspective now. Always keep your goal in mind and in sight and say “how can I get to my goal.” Remember, too, though that it’s always acceptable to revise and refine your goal if you think that perhaps you weren’t realistic about it when you developed it.  For example, I realized that I was not realistic in thinking that I could run back to back marathons this past weekend given my stage of development. But I took it as far as I could before making that decision. I got up and went out there and tried. And at the half-marathon point I looked at the potential outcomes – both the good and the bad of my pushing further and decided that the cons of continuing to run outweighed the pros at that point and that although I wasn’t going to achieve that goal that day, it did NOT mean I would NEVER achieve it. It was just an unrealistic time frame and I needed to refine that time frame.

Enjoy your weekend and I hope you’re as successful in your Achievement Plans for 2013 as the folks in Define & Conquer 2013 are going to be!

Terrie (who has a new MP3 player by the way…LOL)