What is it you want out of this election? Do you want your candidate to win? Do you want the candidate you don't like to lose? Do you want the one to win who agrees with all your opinions and perspectives? With just your biggest issue opinion? Income tax? Abortion? Balanced Budget? Mass Transit? Human rights? Immigration? Military? Social programs?
Well, I know what you really want! You want to feel better; more hopeful. You want to feel optimistic about the future, yours and others. So how do you get there? What if your preferred candidate doesn't win. How will you feel then? How will you recover? And worse yet, what if your preferred candidate doesn't keep his campaign promises and ends up creating a circumstance you disagree with?
If you are like most people you have tied your emotions to a specific environmental situation around you. You believe that you will be happier if a certain thing in your outside world ends up a certain way. The only way to truly feel better and more hopeful is to set your own mood so that it is not dependent on what happens around you.
In our world, in the worst of times there are always people who thrive. In the best of times there are people who suffer. So in reality, there is no real correlation between the "times" and your potential thriving. If you can shift your understanding to knowing that your well-being and hopefulness comes from within, from what you are thinking and feeling, and does not come from what is going on around you, then you can control your own level of happiness at all times. It may seem like a stretch, but if you accept that it is possible, all that is left is actually charting a course to get there, one step at a time.
So let's do that! Create a plan to tell yourself over and over that no one can dictate whether you thrive or suffer. Put up affirmations around your home, car and workplace stating this. Find audio recordings and DVD's that speak of this concept. Speak to others about it who understand this concept, and draw them closer and closer in your contact circle. Stop repeating the "outside" messages of a bad economy, or of bad government decisions. Really, stop watching the news altogether. Don't read the newspaper either. It is filled with outside observations of suffering and it ultimately has no effect on your level of happiness unless you let it in, by putting your attention on it.
So now, imagine you have successfully mastered the thought that no one around you has control of your level of happiness and thriving. Now think about the election, and realize that whoever takes office will not dictate your personal environment. You know you can thrive in any environment. You also know from experience that when the government shifts to liberalism, it will likely rebound to conservatism in the next election. There is a natural ebb and flow of these dominant forces, and ultimately nothing shifts that far from moderation over time. That's the beauty of the U.S. Government design and structure, and the amazing checks and balances system.
So be at ease. Observe the current election, and know it will not deeply affect your personal level of happiness. Be happy for the system, and for the presence of diversity, and especially for the presence of hard working, committed people who are willing to work in the political environment.
Rick Schaefer M.D. is an established author and is the creator of Extreme Thought Makeover™ … 37 Days to Maximum Life! He has a life coaching practice, teaching from the principles in his program. Rick also has 19 years experience as a physician, and 14 years experience studying personal development, success, and the Law of Attraction. He now works at the intersection of those two fields by helping people at the root cause of disease … their thinking. He is the father of three, and makes his home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the shore of Lake Michigan.
He can be heard regularly on WISN Radio 1130 AM in Milwaukee. He has been President of the Anesthesia Society, has taught at the Medical College of Wisconsin, has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio, and has been a featured speaker at regional and national success seminars. He has also appeared on the Lifetime TV Network’s “The Balancing Act.”