Challenge Creates Change
Spirit wants us to understand the beneFITs of challenge, and let’s just admit that there’s probably no better time to do so than now! Life isn’t meant to be easy all the time. Imagine how boring that would be. With all that goodness we’d have nothing to complain about! Where would we get any impetus to grow and evolve if things were always perfect?
Now remember, we’re all Spirit having a human experience. So what do you think this human experience is supposed to be about if not for our personal and collective evolution of some sort? Muhammad Ali did a brilliant job describing the most powerful challenge of all when he said, “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
Challenges come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes. There can be relational, financial, professional, personal, scholarly, physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual challenges to name just a few areas in which they may surface. We’re all being challenged one way or another. Yet, Mary Morrissey says, “The circumstances, situations, and conditions you find yourself in are the curriculum for your evolution.” Think of the math problems you were given in school. First you learn how to add, then subtract, multiply, divide, etc., each one building upon the last and teaching you how to apply these new skills in life. So rise up and face your challenges. However they present themselves to you, each one is an opportunity for you to grow stronger, more resilient, and to develop your skillset and character.
I can’t write about challenge and not mention Bikram’s challenge. He would say to one and all, “You do my yoga class every day for 60 days and I promise you a new body, a new mind, and new life.” That would be the classic 90 minute Bikram Yoga class (BeneFIT’s B90Y True Fix) he was talking about. Every day for 60 days. Imagine that. 
Maybe it’s hitting home to you like it did to me when I was told after taking my first class that, if I liked it, I could go to his teacher training where I’d have to do it twice a day (well, 11 times a week) for 9 weeks straight. Sirens went off in my head as I knew it was exactly what I’d been asking for. With a little time, consideration and preparation, what at first seems impossible becomes possible and eventually even probable.
I mentioned at the start of this email that it’s apropos for challenge to come on the heels of intention, yesterday’s mantra word. Whenever you make a decision, create a vision or goal for yourself, or in some other way set a new intention, challenges are sure to arise. Life as you’ve known it, your status quo is being threatened and its going to put up a fight. You could be tempted to see these challenges as stop signs, but I’m pretty sure Muhammad Ali would see them as qualifiers instead. Just how much do you want what you’re after? Check in with yourself. Does it really align with your core values? Does the vision of you living that new life make your heart sing? Would you truly love it? If the answer to these questions is yes, then let me remind you that nothing is impossible.