With eyes wide open

Have you faced something in your life that made you wonder how you would make it through the next 10 minutes, much less the next 10 years? And later, you discovered the transformation that came through that horrible situation?

Yesterday I heard an interview with Hoda Kotb, who wrote Ten Years Later: Six People Who Faced Adversity and Transformed Their Lives. She interviewed six people who had daunting situations to face from an abusive marriage and obesity to being out of work and raising small children alone. Those she interviewed not only survived, she said, but found transformed lives through their adversity.

Kotb said the key is: Keep your eyes open, stay awake, watch for those surprising opportunities that can arise in the midst of something absolutely awful. She said that was the theme that ran through the stories of those she interviewed.

It's a good reminder to me. It's easy to become focused on what's right in front of me rather than keeping my eyes wide open and my view panoramic. But what a difference it can make.

I haven't read Kotb's book yet but I am intrigued. I care a lot about transformation—I know, you can tell that if you read the rest of my website! I have noticed in my life that I've learned far more through my adverse experiences than through my successes. My moments of transformation have come through those tough times—job loss, divorce and other losses of various kinds.

Do you need to switch your viewing lens from portrait to panorama so you can really notice what's out there on the horizon waiting for you? Widen your focus and see what difference it might make. Be aware of opportunities to grow, change and really transform your life. Let that butterfly inside emerge and soar!