Heart Pocket Word for the Day is Challenge!

Unfinished Sculpture by Deb Clay - click here to learn more about her charming artwork & poetry!

The word from my heart pocket is Challenge. 

A challenge isn't always welcomed. It is never convenient. That's part of the challenge. The word has taken on nuances of meaning: difficulty, obstacle, trial. Originally, the word came from Middle English, around the year 1125, and it was associated with invitations to duel. Or so it is recorded. 

If we think about our lives in this way, a challenge is an invitation to confront ourselves, to make a demand, to question and to dare. It doesn't have to be a negative experience! Even when it is a surprise, something we hadn't planned, we have a choice on how to see it. Instead of immediately reacting, we can stop and evaluate the qualities of the challenge in front of us. The bigger the challenge, the greater the possibility for reward. 

When we feel threatened or trapped by a challenge, we use a different name. We call it a burden, bad luck, suffering, distress. We spend energy worrying and imagining the worst that can happen when we are in this frame of mind. It works wonders to re-frame and rename what is before us. The word challenge helps us see we have choices. It is open-ended and for some, is motivating and activates movement toward a resolution and even a triumph! If the challenging situation feels overwhelming and beyond our imagination (and control), we can compartmentalize it, breaking it down into manageable bits so it doesn't seem so large. We see we can have an impact. We can feel inspired to "rise to the challenge".

Each of us has felt this! Each of us has overcome our miserable self to become our heroic self. We like this feeling, even if circumstances don't evolve the way we imagined. If we participate fully, using everything we know, we emerge with new information and the good feeling of having tried our best.

These are challenging times. If we focus on the outside - that is, the world around us - we miss the opportunity to personally succeed. The world around us warrants our compassion and observance, our participation when we are needed, and of course, it is there to enjoy. The challenge in changing the circumstances of the world begins with the personal challenges of us as individuals. How we respond to our daily challenges, the manner in which we approach personal hardship and suffering, the way we "see" and relate - calls for exploration. Whenever we do this, what follows is discovery and if taken far enough, success and real understanding. When we choose to give ourselves a challenge, we are taking charge of our lives and there is no greater way to experience living.

Give yourself an edge in 2011. Challenge yourself to get what you want this year. Do you want to go back to school? Have more free time? Create a new lifestyle? Do you want to make art or write or finally learn to play an instrument? Join a theater group? Change jobs? Lose weight? Get into a loving relationship? Make more money? Have more fun?

The idea of having to work for something - to rise to the challenge - gives us that edge. Big or small, when we accept a challenge, we become the hero of our story.