This morning I woke up very early. I slept well. But, for some reason when I woke I was feeling stressed.
Business has been going very well lately. I’ve been meeting with many families this month helping them get their finances in order, and getting many commitments to move forward and implement their personal financial strategies. In fact, this month has been the best month ever for getting commitments from clients to move forward.
But for one reason or another business hasn’t been closing. Either people are getting sick and having to postpone our meetings, or schedules are conflicting, or many other reasons all outside of my control. Because of these delays, my cashflow for the month has not been where I had intended it to be at this point. With just a week to go in the month, I am finding myself stressing about the shortfall. The stress was creating an inner turmoil, and I was finding that I was spending too much time thinking about the things I cannot control. Which in turn creates more stress, and so the cycle goes.
In the quiet of the early morning I read the following words of Wayne Dyer, “it is always in the service of others, regardless of what you do or what your interests are, that you find the [peace] that you are seeking.” Interesting, isn’t it.
Instantly, when I began to think about being of service, and fullfilling my calling, the stress that I was experiencing just a few minutes earlier was gone.
The stress that I was experiencing was being created by me, by what I was thinking about. I realized that in order to get rid of stress, it begins by taking the thoughts off myself, and replacing them with thoughts about serving. Immediately, I came into a peaceful place. In the past, it’s been in these peaceful places that I have had the most significant breakthroughs, and solutions to whatever has been troubling me have come to mind.
I’m reminded of the word’s of Jesus that were recorded by Matthew, “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”
What a great reminder. Now if I can only remember this when my thoughts go back to thinking about myself and the stress begins to creep back in.
About Rolf Issler