Loser or Conqueror - it's up to you

I've often thought that psychological testing should be given to individuals who want to bring offspring into this world with either a "stop right now and do not pass GO" or a "proceed forward" permission slip.  Unfortunately any misfit can spew out various oddities into the subculture who subsequently quite often distort, exaggerate, and lament their way through life. Although there are few of us out there who have survived childhood unscathed, why is it that some people emerge crippled, continuing forever to lick their wounds, while others become stronger despite their battlescars?

Life is filled with jagged edges. Some of us can skate around them, and some us of are drawn to them  impaling ourselves on them. Why is it that we feel we must create drama and experience trauma in order to feel alive? Are we so detached from the real love and beauty in life that we search for answers in a cesspool? Sometimes those daunting challenges can't be avoided, but when we deliberately and consistently choose the road filled with pitfalls over the easy highway, something's wrong, baby.

Life is generally an uphill climb, steeper for some than others, and interspersed with areas as flat and smooth as glass with occasional downhill slides. It's all on how you navigate it. If we could actually step outside of our bodies (and I hear that there are people who can do that), we may be able to see what we're doing to ourselves (and maybe to others, too), and then work on changing gears. After all, we rarely see ourselves as others see us. Hmmmm......I think I may work on that in my hypnosis practice....you are now leaving your body.....take a good look at yourself.....what do you see? ("HOLY SHIT!!")

It's a matter of being aware of just how we're steering ourselves through this life, and stopping the behavior long enough to work on fixing it. That's the goal. Be aware of it, learn from it, fix it (or at least make an concerted effort in that direction), gain life experience from it, gain wisdom from it, reach nirvana (well, ok, maybe it won't go that far). If you can say that you're a better, more compassionate, loving, smarter person with more integrity than you had one, five, or ten years ago, then you're on the right track.