When you least expect it

Isn’t it interesting what you discover when you least expect it? The other day I was driving down a road close to our home. Growing from the sewer grate was a beautiful bright sunflower. It took me by such surprise, as that is not a place you expect to see a hardy sunflower growing. It did however spark my thinking about how resilient this sunflower is, and how out of an unusual place beauty can grow. I suppose this plays out in life whereby out of what seems to be a challenging or upsetting event, grows a positive outcome or learning. I can think of many situations whereby on the surface, the challenge seemed negative or overwhelming, however, in the process of dealing with the situation I learned a new skill, met a new resource, or had a learning so profound that it positively impacted my future.
What are you doing to embrace challenges to see what learning the challenges hold?
Here are three tips to finding the sunflowers in the sewers…
1) Look beyond the immediate situation. Be curious; explore what the situation has in store for you in terms of a positive learning, opportunity or perhaps a new connection or skill.
2) Be present…I mean really present.
3) Recognize the strengths, and identify one area for improvement and take action.