Turning Setbacks Into Comebacks- page 2

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If you come to the realization that things haven’t gone your way because of something that was under your control then immediately begin to assess your thinking and your feelings at that moment.

As you’re reading this you might be saying to yourself, “That’s easier said then done.” You’re right. The reason people have a hard time ridding themselves of negative thoughts and emotions is because they try to remove the thought or feeling without replacing it. That’s like changing a flat tire without putting on a new tire.

When a negative or bitter thought pops into your head immediately say to yourself “Erase that and replace that.” Then you replace the bitter thought with a better thought. So if someone was thinking-

“I’m so stupid.”

He or she would then say, “Erase that and replace that.”

Next he or she would say a phrase like the following one, at least seven times. “I made an honest mistake and now I know better so I’ll do better.”

This brings us to a very important rule. You should…

3. Never convict an innocent person.

Setbacks can leave a person wallowing in the muck and mire of past misery. And unless you are a little piggy, you have no business sloshing around in the mud!

World renowned speaker, Willie Jollie says, “The past is a place of reference; not a place of residence.” Far too many people convict themselves over and over again for past mistakes and mishaps.

Would a parent punish a teenager again and again for something the child did when he or she was seven? What if a professor decided to penalize a student in March over and over for something the student did in September? That would be insane, right?

So why would you want continue to punish yourself in the present for an honest mistake you made in the past? You’re convicting the new and improved you, for something that the old you did. If the statement- “I made an honest mistake and now I know better so I’ll do better.”- is true for you, then give the new you a pardon. What it boils down to is learning from the past, planning for the future, and taking action now.

What if someone else wrongly convicts, condemns, or mislabels you? Then remember…

4. Someone’s definition of you doesn't define you.

In 1979, as a sophomore in high school, a young basketball player was cut from the varsity team. He was devastated but he wasn’t done. Three years later in 1982 he made the game winning shot in the NCAA championship game. In 1984 he was passed over by the first two teams in the NBA draft but he went on to become arguably the greatest basketball player of all time.

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