There are going to be challenges in your life. And many times, those challenges come one after the other. We call those times “rough patches”. These tend to last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months or years. Some rough patches stretch out for the entirety of life, making it seem like one long rough patch.
Here’s the thing nobody will ever tell you about rough patches. They’re elective.
How do I know? I’m a rough patch expert! Here are my credentials.
My teen years were plagued with rough patches. I was in an abusive relationship (he’s since been to jail for abusing women). I was constantly missing the bus, or having car trouble, or forgetting about exams.
All of my twenties…. one big “rough patch”. I suffered clinical depression, and there was always some drama-of-the month with in my toxic relationships. The men I dated were chaotic, and so my life was chaotic. Car troubles still plagued me. The list of rough patch bull**** could go on.
My early thirties was plagued with autoimmune issues, and anxiety (woo hoo!). This brought with it a host of awesome rough patch glory.
Basically, rough patches plagued me my entire life until I finally came to the realization that they’re elective. I haven’t had a rough patch since.
As a recovering rough patch junkie, here’s what I’ve learned…
A general state of disharmony within and without is a direct results of a mismanaged mind. And a mismanaged mind is a magnet for chaos and misfortune. If you’re dealing with a bunch of rough patches, it’s because your mismanaged mind is at the driver seat of your life.
Rough patches, hard times, bad luck or whatever else you want to call it isn’t a random occurence. And this is the best news you could ever get. It means you’re not a helpless victim to life. It means you can smooth out any and all rough patches asap.
Raise the Floor
One of the reasons I was attracting all of the chaos and “bad luck” into my life was that my floor was too low. In other words, my standards in certain areas was not high enough. When I started to unravel myself from the rough-patch-lifestyle, I saw I needed to raise the bar on nearly every area of my life.
In other words, I needed to expect bigger and better things from life.
If you seem to experience one rough patch after another, it might be time to take an inventory and consider where the floor of your life can be raised.
Start Focusing on What You Want
Most of us spend plenty of time focusing on what’s going wrong instead of what’s going right. Espesically when you seem to have a constant stream of unfortunate events happen one after another. Then we tend to focus on the calamities and disasters.
An important skill to master is to maintain your mind on where you want to go. Regardless of what’s happening, stay focused on the road ahead and where you want to steer the ship.
When you focus on “all the bad things” and “this problem” and “that problem” …all that does is create more of the same. When you focus on where you want to go, things start clicking into place.
Beliefs That Attract Rough Patches
Belief #1 – “Happy lives are for those people, and I’m not one of them.”
I had this belief in the back of my mind for years, and that’s part of the reason I was stuck in a perpetual rough patch loop. Letting go of this toxic belief was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Trust fall into letting this belief go.
Belief #2 – “I’m meant to have this life. It’s my soul’s destiny.”
Are we “fated” certain challenging circumstances and situations? Absolutely. There are certain challenges you’re meant to face. There are even certain times in your life that are destined to stretch you and challenge you. But nobody is destined to a miserable, disharmonious existence.
Some spiritual circles teach that certain people are fated to miserable lives. I’ve heard it said more than once that “Some souls will suffer more than others. Some choose to have easy lives before they’re born, and some choose to have harder ones and grow more.”
If you’re struggling, you might hear this and think you’re destined to live out the rest of your life in misery. This is a disempowering way to view life. And it’s not the Truth.
The way we can know what’s true is through direct experience. And we can know, firsthand, that we have control and agency over our bodies and minds at any given moment. We can also know that it is “I” and only “I” that can choose how I want to live my life. Not even God himself can interfere with your choices…that’s the deal. You get complete freedom to choose how to live your life, for better or for worse. Rough patches included.
You were born with the gift of NOW. In this now moment, you can access a clean slate. In this now moment, you can start anew. Every moment is a new moment. Rough patches can only exist when we forget this fact.
A Quick Scripture for Breaking Through
Scripture is a powerful tool for transforming the way you think and live. They actually hold the power to plant new seeds in your mind and heal you on a deep level.
Today, I wanted to offer a simple but powerful pieces of scripture from the Bhagavad Gita. It’s Krishna’s response to Arjuna shrinking away from the battle (a metephor for life’s challenges). He say’s “It does not become you to yield to this weakness. Arise with a brave heart and destroy the enemy.” He also says “The Self cannot be pierced by weapons or buned by fire; water cannot wet it, nor can the wind dry it.”
In other words, don’t let the challenges of life take away your will to truly LIVE, your will to EXPECT GOOD THINGS, your will to ENJOY THIS MOMENT.
There’s nothing in this world that can touch your eternal nature. Maintain your strength, get up, and “fight”.
What are you “fighting” for? You fight for joy, happiness and peace. You don’t stop expecting good things in life. You maintain your optimistic heart…and if you don’t have one, you fight until you build one up.
The challenges of life are inevitable. The rough patches, most of the time, are optional.
Love,
Brenda
P.S. The brand new program, Master Your Mind, is happening now in my community. This program will help you eliminate rough patches from your life, and rewire you mind for ease and joy. Come join us for this live, interactive program!
