When You Encounter an Obstacle, Don’t Forget to Say Thank You!

In my book Sacred Success, I issue a warning: When you commit to achieving Greatness, everything unlike itself will come up to be healed. Life gets in the way. Obstacles arise. Shit happens. Breakdowns occur.

To the masses, obstacles are like ticking time bombs, something to quickly defuse or avoid altogether.

But for those pursuing Greatness, obstacles are doorways to healing and growth. What seems to get in the way is the way to transformation.

“Trials are but lessons that you failed to learn presented once again” A Course in Miracles tells us, “So where you made a faulty choice before you can now make a better one and thus escape all pain that what you chose before has brought you.”

Difficulties are not diversions from Greatness but proof of dysfunctional patterns that are, thankfully, being brought into awareness so you can correct them. These patterns are precisely what’s been preventing you from achieving Greatness.

Every challenge, every obstacle, provides the chance to respond in a new way. Essentially your Soul is telling you: “Don’t act as you have in the past. Make a different choice this time.”

By responding differently you’ll invariably receive radically different, and hopefully vastly improved, results. Every ordeal—from the computer crashing to a spat with your spouse—is an opportunity to transmute your past into a better future by reacting differently than you normally would.

Oprah summed it up perfectly: “When you meet obstacles with gratitude, your perception starts to shift, resistance loses its power, and grace finds a home within you.”

Looking back, when has an obstacle turned out to be a blessing? Share your story in a comment below.

Comments & Feedback

  • Barbara Alpher

    My resistance to finding a fee-only financial planner has been an obstacle. I kept resisting because I didn’t know what I wanted to know and feared I’d waste time with a planner that would be an expense and not helpful.
    I finally talked with Sharon Baumgarner in our wealth group and she was helpful in getting me to see where I am financially at the moment. Then I got together with the business administrator here on the Refuge where I volunteer. She’s a numbers person and was able to write up a rundown as we talked of (in general but still helpful) what expenses to expect where I’m looking to buy a condo near my son and family.

    Today, I easily went to the Gannett site and sent contact information to two planners in the area where my son lives. Now I know how to ask the questions I need the answers to and how to evaluate if either would be one who would likely be helpful for my situation.

    Now here’s a question for you, Barbara. A few weeks ago when I was taking the three day intro to Melinda Cohan’s course, she gave an assignment (something like) to tell someone something you have never let them know before. I sent you a comment on this site and told you something about my financial situation that I had never let you know, but got no response from you. I figured it was my resistance again, LOL!!! I’d do the assignment and since you never answered, I was in the clear with keeping that information to myself!

  • Lisa

    One obstacle taught me that I’m focusing on too many things at a time. I need to focus 🧘‍♀️ on one thing next year to knock it out of the park. ⚾️

    Another obstacle in the past taught me I needed to stop 🛑 believing in the beautiful words someone was telling me. The words were lies without the action.

  • Lisa

    Oh, but one of my biggest obstacles was learning how to use my online trading account to purchase long term stock. It is a pain in the ass to use. It’s not only not user intuitive to use and I need to calculate things like foreign exchange rates and capital gains tax, but it’s also in a foreign language. So glad I asked for help from experts and persisted with this, because things like dividend checks have really helped me out when I was in a pickle 🥒 Today, I discovered I own stock that I didn’t even realize I own!!! The stock split, so now I have well performing stock in two other companies! I have more money than what I realized I have!!! When you don’t have money, you live in a state of anxiety, but when you do, you can experience the magical side of life and can make and plans for the future.

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Meet Barbara Huson

When a devastating financial crisis rocked her world, Barbara Huson knew she had to get smart about money… and she did. Now, she wants to empower every women to take charge of their money and take charge of their lives! She’s doing just that with her best-selling books, life changing retreats and private financial coaching.

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