Midweek Reflections: Overcoming Roadblocks

Idal (Justice), 19 Bahá (Splendour), 172 BE - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 about 9:19 am Pacific Daylight Time

One of the writing.com weekly newsletters for this week was titled Overcoming Road blocks. It discussed the roadblocks the editor was having in accessing the internet. In it she encouraged the readers to find ways to overcome the roadblocks they were encountering in their writing and their life. It got me to thinking about the roadblocks confronting me.

Some of the roadblocks I encountered recently were financial and physical. In order to overcome the financial roadblock, I worked thirteen hours yesterday. I enjoyed the job, but as a results I came home with back pain from sitting in an ergonomically inappropriate chair. When I returned home between 8:00 and 8:30 pm I was exhausted and in pain, specifically back pain. Even though I had difficulty focusing, I logged onto writing.com because I had two things I had to finish before 9:00 pm PDT.

I logged on, finished the writing I has to do, and then logged off. My back still hurt, but instead of taking pain medication (which has some side effects I don't like) I went to bed. It turns out I didn't need the pain medication to sleep. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep immediately and did not wake up before the alarm went off this morning. This is unusual because I usually wake up two or three times during the night.

The money I receive from the thirteen hours of work will help pay my internet bill. I need the internet connection so that I can do surveys to make money to deal with other bills I have to pay. I made some money last month with surveys that helped pay some bills and purchase some much needed personal items. I still have the power company to deal with and some other bills to pay before the end of April.

I am placing the financial and other roadblocks in God's hands, so that I can focus on earning more money to pay the bills. I have to place my worries in a higher power because worry distracts me and removes my focus from writing or earning money to worrying about bills. If I focus on doing surveys and other things to earn money then I can focus on both earning the money and writing.

Overcome roadblocks
Place the roadblocks in God's hands
Work without worry

 

Looking forward to a better year in 2009

Kamál (Perfection), 18 Masa’il (Questions), 165 BE – Monday, December 29, 2008 about 8:53 AM Pacific Time

I am looking forward to a better year in 2009. Despite parts of 2008 being as stressful and difficult as 2007, for the most part it was a better year. My attitude was part of the stress; I did not attempt to look beyond the roadblocks that appeared in my path. Things happened during 2008 I could do nothing about and I did not take some of them very well.

I have come to realize that the only way to make 2009 better is to change my attitude and expect good things to happen. Tests and difficulties are a part of the transformation process and I must view them as such. Instead, I viewed some of those tests and difficulties as roadblocks intended to stop my progress.

I have noticed in the past few days, that the end of 2008 is much better then the end of 2007. At least, on a personal level, but I still have a long way to go. One thing I have been doing is making daily entries in my gratitude journal. I attempt to find at least ten things each day to be grateful for and list them in my gratitude journal. So far, I have found at least ten things to be thankful for each day.

The Butterfly Emerges

7 Masa'il 164 B.E. - Tuesday, December 18, 2007 about 2:21 PM PST

All right this is fall and not the time of year when butterflies normally emerge from their cocoon. However, I'm coming out of my pupa case, I'm slowing becoming my true self, the person I'm meant to be.

For nine months, from March 12 to November 12, I was under so much stress I felt like I was giving birth. The stress hasn't entirely left, but I feel different. I feel more optimistic, I have more faith and I feel better about the decisions I've made in the past.

I still need to work on certain things. I still have a tendency to focus on the roadblocks placed in front of me instead of the path around them. However, I've found that whenever I push at (what I consider a roadblock) it either disappears all together or shrinks to a manageable size.

Everything in my life seems to being working out slowly. Sometimes I put a situation in Baha'u'llah's hands and then I attempt to take it back by worrying about it. However, thinking about the past few months and the blessing that Baha'u'llah has bestowed, I find that the things I worried about were taken care of and my prayers answered. Sometimes my prayers weren't answered in the way I thought they would be, but they were answered.

I've found I have a tendency to think a prayer isn't answered unless its answered the way I want it answered. This is a very selfish attitude and not in line with reality. Prayers are always answered. Sometimes they're answered with a yes, sometimes with a no, sometimes with a wait and usually in an unexpected way. So from now on I'm going to look for the answer rather then just presuming the answer is no.