For most of us, life offers abundant opportunities for joy, pain, laughter and tears. The good times you savor. The great times you treasure, and the hard times are part of the character of your heart and soul. Our ability to handle life‘s challenges is a measure of our heart, faith, and character, but where do we learn how to deal with challenges, hard times, and difficulties? In school, it‘s the basics…reading, writing, arithmetic. But what about Life‘s 101 - the keys to living? What about failed relationships, losing your job or a loved one? Those lessons are, unfortunately, acquired through the school of hard knocks. But oh, ladies and gentlemen, there are options for life when you make the decision to find the best that is inside of you.

No matter how difficult your life may become, no matter how hard life gets, there is always a reason to find your best inside. There is purpose to keep going with the evidence of abundance, and the perseverance to survive and thrive.

Recognizing the heritage of your own divinity and power in the space of your daily life is where we all learn to acknowledge fear and adversity, and hold on to its instruction only for the unique lesson that is yours. You see acknowledgement creates the opening for adjustments. Adjustments generate resolutions, and resolutions are building blocks of a foundation of a life not riddled with fear. Ask yourself right now:

• Do you feel like you are failing your ABCs as an adult?
• Are your dreams more real than your fears?
• Are you finding comfort and if so, how is it entering your life?

Life is like a scratchy CD - It Keeps Repeating

We live in very challenging times, stress at work, pressure in the workplace with downsizing, rightsizing, and politics. People are constantly seeking to make sense of their lives. How do you keep going when the hard knocks of life don’t seem to stop? Its one thing to be positive when things are going well, but it’s altogether different when you are blind-sided or when things are just plain going wrong.

• When a loved one is taken away
• When an illness strikes you or your family member
• When the basement floods or the hot water heater explodes and everything seems ‘lost’
• When you go through the emotional torment of a divorce
• When a business partner betrays you
• When your teenagers seem more like adults

Any of these situations are enough to just make you scream ‘GIVE ME A BREAK.’ Just give me a chance to catch my breath. But life doesn’t always listen. You see….each of us has a choice to let hard times and fears dominate us, free us to the next level, OR we can get trapped and allow ourselves to see them as temporary setbacks. Don’t allow yourself to take the path of despair. Turn the ship around before you hit the glacier and sink like the Titanic. Find the courage to try something new.

Will you encounter hard times? No doubt storms will rise, puddles may even help skid you off the path temporarily because everyone falls on hard times, challenges, and suffering. But if you give your endeavors the best you can suffer and then you let it go, do you realize what that pain symbolizes? It is a sign you lived or loved so courageously that tragedy entered your story but it did not stay. Tragedy is very often the mark of a good life, not a ruined one.

Discover Your Best Inner Self

Every event in your life, every person you encounter contributes to who you are, and who you are becoming. There is fluidity to your story, a score underlying the music of your dance. You will be surprised how many accomplishments you have under your belt, how many times you made a difference and how even your failures became a cornerstone of your success.

Improving your life, discovering your best inner self and reaching your true potential can only occur when you know your current state of health. Are you healthy in the attitude stakes? You are not in a position to make the necessary changes if you have the wrong attitude and your unwillingness to truly discover your current inner health.

Discovering your best inside is a process. It’s a process we can all understand and see though to the finish. But it’s also a never-ending process and one which helps us every day in so many ways. When you know you, it’s like each day is its own birthday celebration. It’s your birthday. It’s your world of understanding a code you live by because you can.

Remember, it’s not over until you….Find Your Best Inside.

Author's Bio: 

Dr. Madeline Ann Lewis is the President/CEO of Deline Institute for Professional Development. She is the author of newly released “Finding Your Best Inside” and co-author of “Overcoming the Superwoman Syndrome,” an expert in women’s issues, a career coach, author, and professional speaker. Her passion is helping women excel in their personal and professional careers. She can be reached at, Website: www.exwsi.com and Email: women@delineinstitute.net