How do you get past feeling frustrated and overwhelmed about a challenging situation?

I was attending a business retreat last weekend and I was sitting in a breakout session.  The leader was helping us to brainstorm solutions to specific situations.  When it was my turn, I described a recurring challenge that had me frustrated and overwhelmed, not being able to solve it or get around it.  She could tell I was struggling, and not feeling comfortable in my energy, the frustration was showing on my face.

She keyed right into where I was, and asked me some pretty powerful questions.  I was amazed at how quickly my perspective changed and my energy shifted.

Here are the 3 energy-shifter questions:

How will you feel if this resolves the way that you want it to?

If you really take the time to imagine what it would feel like to have your problem solved, the obstacle removed, or the situation resolved, really FEEL that emotion, THAT IS THE KEY!  When I realized I was FEELING frustrated, FEELING powerless, that was all I could see of the experience, not how I wanted to feel in the resolution of the issue. Suddenly, I caught myself smiling.  I immediately began to imagine the other end of the experience, the happy ending, if you will. She told me, ‘That’s the energy that you need to stay in! Anything else is resisting the good.’  Sometimes it takes others to help us see the bigger picture, because we get caught up in the woods.

As soon as I shifted to see the end result, my energy shifted, I could describe it, and began to feel it. I felt lighter, more empowered, and grateful for the inspiration she provided.  Now that I am home,  feeling the “end results” I could see more clearly, I was open to inspiration, that I had blocked before.  I have now found the perfect resolution to this recurring problem, and now I know that I will not have to struggle with it any more!

Sometimes it is hard to make that drastic of a shift, and the best thing you can do is shift one step at a time.  An easy way to do that is with gratitude.

What can you be grateful for in this situation?

This question allows you to reframe your situation and look for the good in it. It also allows you to consider outcomes that might come from the situation that you hadn’t considered… good outcomes, even better than you had hoped or expected.

Feeling gratitude can be a way to shift from your fear, frustration, overwhelm or confusion, to a more peaceful energy.  Feeling grateful about something in the present situation, or even some other situation, can break the rhythm of those unwanted feelings, and make space for higher more beneficial feelings and emotions.

Another great aspect of this question is the opportunity to learn from a challenging situation. If you let upset block your quiet, calm thoughtful consideration and reflection on the problem, you  might risk repeating the same situation because you didn’t  pay attention and learn from it. Applying gratitude will help you experience the valuable lessons that are there for you.

Who do you want to BE in this situation?

Think about it, if you have the opportunity to choose how you show up for this challenge, don’t you think it would be best to choose to show up as someone who can keep their calm, see the bigger picture, and see the lessons?

You want to train yourself to be compassionate, forgiving, and powerful in all situations, even the challenging ones. Compassionate means understanding, not subjugated, so this is not being a victim, or putting someone else in the role of victim.  Forgiving is a place of power, because that is where you grow and move forward.

These are great question to ask yourself, or someone you know who struggles with challenging situations.  Asking questions like this create a pattern interrupt, the person is expecting questions about the problem, not how you feel about the problem..  This make them think, and actually creates new pathways in the brain to better deal with similar situations.

How will you use these questions in your next challenge?

Speaking of asking questions… If you are facing some big decisions, big changes or daunting tasks that you KNOW will move  you forward  toward making more money, growing your business, or just making a bigger impact, but you just keep putting them off, I have a few questions I could ask you that could target exactly what is standing in  your way!  Why not Schedule a Success Potential analysis with me and we will get to the bottom of it!

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