A Quality of Thought: “Is Circumstance Using Me? (Or Am I Using Circumstance?)”

Given any life situation, I can always consider: if circumstance is using me; or if I am using circumstance. It’s not a question we often think to ask: we’re too caught-up in the drama of the moment. But if I can, new options arise.

Have this question be a part of your quality thinking toolkit:

“How can I make use of this?”

It’s a question that takes us back to creativity. A question that move us away from effect and puts us at cause.

Victims, on the other hand, are all about how this circumstance is using me. And given enough leeway for thoughts-unchecked, they’ll do it to the level of life itself: Life is hard. Life is a drain. Life is a burden. Life uses me.

If it’s not my habit to ask the question “How can I make use of this?” does that make me a victim? Certainly not, as in some fixed personality trait that’s part of the egoic self. But perhaps in the moment – where all have the tendency to slip into victim when spirits are low and the mind is unclear.

Which is why I want a thinking strategy like “How can I make use of this?” A strategy I can lean on, to return me to owner. Where “owner” is someone whose creativity uses life – like an energy source.

Embed your new thinking habit, today. Think of a challenging circumstance from your very-recent past; the last day or two. And challenge yourself now with the question:

“Given this circumstance: How can I make use of this?”