The Set of The Sail

October 12, 2010

One thing I’ve come to understand throughout the course of my life is that ‘change’ is inevitable.  Change may happen next week, next month, or 5 times already today.  As they say, “The only thing constant is CHANGE!”  Just as the seasons turn, it often shocks me how people tend to get upset when change occurs in their lives.  We have a habit of viewing it as a bad thing, as a scary thing, as a “why did this happen to me” thing.  Sure, change is scary, but it’s also a way for us to grow.  To try new things.  To continue to place our trust in God knowing that for everything there is a grand plan in mind.  This short article by Jim Rohn is wonderful.  Go ahead, read it.  Then ask yourself, “What will I do when the winds of change do, in fact, change?”

The Set of The Sail

Jim Rohn

In the process of living, the winds of circumstances blow on us all in an unending flow that touches each of our lives.…

What guides us to different destinations in life is determined by the way we have chosen to set our sail. The way that each of us thinks makes the major difference in where each of us arrive. The major difference is the set of the sail.

The same circumstances happen to us all. We have disappointments and challenges. We all have reversals and those moments when, in spite of our best plans and efforts, things just seem to fall apart.…In the final analysis, it is not what happens that determines the quality of our lives, it is what we choose to do when we have struggled to set the sail and then discover, after all of our efforts, that the wind has changed directions.

When the winds change, we must change. We must struggle to our feet once more and reset the sail in the manner that will steer us toward the destination of our own deliberate choosing. The set of the sail, how we think and how we respond, has a far greater capacity to destroy our lives than any challenges we face. How quickly and responsibly we react to adversity is far more important than the adversity itself. Once we discipline ourselves to understand this, we will finally and willingly conclude that the great challenge of life is to control the process of our thinking.

Learning to reset the sail with the changing winds rather than permitting ourselves to be blown in a direction we did not purposely choose requires the development of a whole new discipline. It involves going to work on establishing a powerful, personal philosophy that will help to influence in a positive way all that we do and that we think and decide. If we can succeed in this worthy endeavor, the result will be a change in the course of our income, lifestyle and relationships, and in how we feel about the things of value as well as the times of challenge. If we can alter the way we perceive, judge and decide upon the main issues of life, then we can dramatically change our lives.