It Could Be Worse

It Could Be Worse


Recently I was consoling a friend. He was concerned about his business and its future prospects. Clearly, the unknown future can either be a source of great anxiety or an exciting adventure filled with possibilities. If we are not noticing and guiding our thoughts, the mind’s default mode is often that the future will be just more of the same; and if current circumstances are not so attractive, than so it appears that the future will be: unattractive.
Why? Because the brain can project current circumstances - or worse -into the future.

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While there are no doubt many ways to address this state of mind, my tactic is to first consider one’s current circumstances. Not so long ago, so much was going sideways in my life that I arrived at a distilled source of comfort. No matter how bad it got, I simply leaned into the beautiful truth that “It could be worse”. I am still contemplating putting those words on T-Shirts and Coffee Mugs because they are so true.
No matter what happens in your life, It Could Be Worse. And believe it or not, contemplating something worse can bring gratitude for what IS in this present moment. Judgement cannot be made without a comparative. What we forget is that we are making the comparison and choosing what we compare to. For everyone in a better circumstance than you, let it be known that there are, likely, far more people in worse circumstances. When we fill our cup with this awareness, it can come to overflow into a feeling of abundance even in the most dire of consequences. And often is the improvement in circumstances – followed by our improvement in attitude. Whatever you do for a living is likely made better or worse by your attitude. You either have one of the best, or one of the worst jobs on earth - depending on how YOU think about it. Because truth be known, It Could Be Worse. In fact research is now revealing a way to put your gratitude list in hyper drive, spend more time imagining that what you do have is gone. I love what sports psychologist Dr. Kevin Elko often says, “Imagine you lost everything you have yesterday and got it all back today - today would be the happiest day of your life”.


Familiarity breeds contempt. We take so so much for granted and often compare our place in any given moment to some place we imagine that could be better. Now, that’s not necessarily bad, as long as you adopt a positive attitude, creating a mental image of where you want to be and work towards that goal. One of Dr. Elko’s gratitudes reads, I’m not happy with where I am today, but thank God I’m not where I was yesterday. This could be used as an encouragement to help you get to a higher ground- not to put you down. Teddy Roosevelt said Comparison is the Killer of Joy. Well, doesn’t that depend on your chosen comparison?!


To experience more abundance Now and in the Future, we need only see the abundance currently present - and living from this place can bring more of the same. The Law of attraction says we attract that which we think and believe. Are you living an abundant mindset attracting more abundance? Or are you thinking on what is missing and experiencing more and more of the same?


Celebrate NOW and become MORE immediately - for yourself and for others. Yes, it “Could be Worse”, and NOW is so much more than you could have ever dreamed. What wonders and moments of joy and happiness are in your future if you but stay open to the possibilities and live more gratefully for what is currently present? Consider how much more a gift you will be to others with this mindset.


Throughout my life I have found that my future circumstances improve when I live more from gratitude than from fear. When I come from a place of serving versus selling, when I am more other-focused than self-focused. And isn’t it fun and fascinating in the moment - when in the midst of playing our little miniature violins - complaining about this or that - that we see the expression on a friends face who soon says to us, “Oh Cry me a River” :-)


Consider the friends to which you complain - they are almost never the ones who have it worse than you.
Notice your comparisons. Notice how it could be worse - and take action to give more love and attention than to seek more love and attention. For that which we give abundantly, awakens in us its abundant presence.
Said another way: not only could it be worse, it’s better than it could be and I am grateful. Count your blessing and reconnect to the riches that are beyond your current belief - and from that well of riches, serve more and be served more by doing so.


Consider this reset to your mindset:
It could be worse and I am so thankful it’s not.


Make it a great week!
Because you can!

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Steve Luckenbach