Welcome to word-of-the-week on another Monday at Bouncing Back.
Today’s word is …
STRENGTH
I don’t normally associate paralysis with strength.
When I recall twenty-two years of adjusting to life in a wheelchair, it’s as though I’m programmed to greet difficult circumstances with: I’ll never be able to …
A wise physical therapist named Leonard once encouraged me to look at my circumstances from a different perspective. As I complained endlessly about the tasks I couldn’t accomplish with my damaged body, he sat beside me and drew this diagram. Seeing the confused look on my face, he explained.
“Look, you need to make a decision. Before your accident you could do ten thousand things, and now you can only do eight thousand. It’s horrible, and it’s not fair. But now you get to choose. You can spend the rest of your life griping about the two thousand things you lost, or you can focus on the eight thousand that remain.”
I’m not a fan of Pollyanna, and I don’t advocate denial or naïve blindness to challenges. Understanding and grieving the loss of the 2000 is necessary and important.
But as I’ve worked with Leonard’s 8000/2000 principle, I’ve come to understand that it really applies to everyone. Every individual has strengths and weaknesses. The key to success involves capitalizing on strengths and discovering ways to compensate for weaknesses.
We move forward only when we turn our attention to the promise and possibility of the 8000. It’s a principle I call realistic optimism: acknowledging challenge while focusing on opportunity.
Don’t allow what you can’t do to interfere with what you can do. John Wooden
What are the strengths with which God has blessed you? How can you capitalize on them as you move into this new week?
Monday is usually my day to specifically request your help in spreading the word about this site. But today I just want to thank you for visiting and being a valued part of this slowly expanding circle. You are the best.