Maintaining Enthusiasm and Focus in Tough Times

Some of the most difficult challenges we face on our life journey are when situations and conditions start to break up and evolve into unknown and new forms. Forms that we had invested time, energy, and wealth in setting up, become no longer relevant or useful. It is so easy then to feel despondent and disheartened and lose belief in ourselves and our abilities.

At this time, we need to step back and connect with our inner guidance system of reflective awareness, which will help us assess the circumstances we find ourselves in, and then formulate a new approach, a new way forward.
The key to a positive regrouping and in moving forward to an effective adaptation to change, is faith in one’s ability to resolve issues and succeed. We need to believe in ourselves, to follow and accept what our heart is telling and showing us. It is about following the soul’s manifestation of its own intuitive wisdom, which will give us the correct advice and route for our next step.

Keeping focus and a fresh momentum is about recognising the signals and signposts that appear, informing us of the need to be alert to what is happening, being ready to change direction, clarify plans, and implement them.

All this certainly needs courage and determination to let go of the familiar and search for new and different approaches. Yet, using our reflective mind, we can take in the bigger picture and gain confidence as we see the connectedness of things. At this point, listening to our inner voice and catching the right thoughts and feelings are important. These powerful hunches or insights will often have more impact than our learned reasoning.
Re-framing our circumstances, with new possibilities and approaches, creates an enjoyable inner excitement as we form new perspectives and face new challenges. The mind loves newness and imaginative and bold ventures, especially when it can see that its old former, limiting beliefs and tendencies no longer work.

This form of reassessment is about breaking the rules, our rules, and becoming free from the limits we had imposed on ourselves. Paradoxically, our review might mean we still need to go with the flow, but now we can travel with awareness and the focus of a new intent.
Silence is a mental tool that helps us stay fresh, alert, and light to avoid inertia, boredom, and staleness. The word enthusiasm originates from the Greek word, “entheos”, to be inspired by God, or divine inspiration. So, by remaining linked to God’s great power, we can easily maintain and regenerate our enthusiasm and focus.
Meditation is the vehicle that enables us to hold everything together, to keep perspective, control, and our link with God.

Jim Ryan has a background in education. He is an author and a Brahma Kumaris Rajyoga teacher, based at the Global Retreat Centre, Oxford, UK.