Stop and see what it is you are to learn from situation. The difference between a man who loses his job and becomes a couch potato, and a man who goes out and starts his own business with redundancy money, is their responsibility for their attitude to life.

When you consciously take control of what you are thinking, feeling and experiencing, you have key to empowerment.

Instead of looking at a days work as drudgery, look at it as a means to getting one step closer to your goals.

See doing ironing as a blessing rather than a curse. How you may ask? Well, give thanks that you have a roof over your head, clothes to protect you from cold and are healthy enough to go about you business wearing your ironed clothes (find blessings in your particular circumstances). Suddenly act of ironing becomes a 'giving thanks' exercise rather than a dreaded chore.

Find a place where you can stand and look up at sky. Notice what clouds look like, how fast they're moving, what an array of colors there are, listen for birds and feel wind on your face. Marvel at mechanics of world that go on around you every day - and stop to notice them.

In short. Stop - take notice - and take responsibility for path of YOUR Life!

I tell you this story for too often you think that you must be one who make shift in your thinking to evoke positive results in your life. You hold thought that you must reach deep within yourself and *gut it out* Some how notion that "I and I alone" comes to surface.

Nothing could be further from truth. While it is true that you are responsible, it is NOT true that you must travel this path ALONE. This phenomenon of *doing it alone* seems particularly geared towards men, but women aren't immune either.

As I reflect on many of crises that have come into my life there were times that I have attempted (note word attempted) to make shift by myself. I was going to make it happen. And in some cases there seemed to be a positive change. Then I would discover that I had another experience of same nature. What was that all about? Hadn't I made a shift? I was so busy *looking* for changes, *making* them happen, that I couldn't *see* that I was blocking answer. Back to square one!

Then I was reminded of that which I already knew. It is when we reach out in silence and ask for help that answer comes. It is when we allow that for which was asked to occur, when we get out of way, when we release that which binds us to past- shift happens.