I'm an optimist and a positive thinker. Challenges are opportunities to me-- opportunities to better myself intellectually, psychologically, physically, and spiritually. They are often opportunities to hone skills and to improve relationships. The optimistic, positive-thinking mindset means that I believe (and that is key) that there are approaches and solutions to these challenges that will be to my benefit and the benefit of those around me. As many have observed before, the quality of an answer depends largely upon asking the right question, so my mindset helps me to see the best question (for me) to address the challenge (opportunity) at hand.

Beyond the questioning and the answers that come to me by virtue of believing they will come, there are practical steps that I take. One is prayer, which takes me above and beyond the challenge, as it were, like an eagle's view of the whole landscape below, in contrast to the myopic view from being earthbound in the midst of a challenge (though the earthbound view has its value in presenting options, too) so that from a transcendent point of view I might see the larger picture, which opens up a whole host of options for various approaches and solutions that I might not have seen before. Prayer also calms and centers me so that I can more effectively use the knowledge and skills already at my disposal.

Another practical step I take is to avail myself of the assistance of trusted people around me, whether in person or in various writings. Finally, another key for me is to persist. Perseverance means that I believe there is an ultimate benefit to be gained by dealing with the challenge instead of ignoring it, whether that benefit will be a solution or a lesson to add to my life experiences.

Incidentally, I love the notion that the Chinese symbol (ideogram) for "crisis" is a combination of two ideograms, one of which means "danger" and the other meaning "opportunity". As you'll see if you do some checking (at straightdope.com, for example), this is probably not true (or entirely true) but nevertheless presents us with an existential truth that can encourage us as we confront challenges in our lives.

As far as manifesting my dreams, I've answered that in the following question, which you may check out if you like. What does it mean to manifest things into reality? Also, see Enoch Tan's article on "Manifesting Dreams."

Metaphorically speaking, I sit in the corner for a little while and cry, then I come out fighting, recreating myself and evolving into something new the process. I'm a thinker, a creator and a doer. I'm always at my best when faced with a challenge, and come out the other side grown stronger and have more understanding and usually new skills too. I love learning and have got to a point where I can see and accept that I only have to focus on what I want and get excited about it to have it or get there. I have done it too often to deny it, even though I didn't understand that at the time, and had some major limiting beliefs that affected the results to a degree. However, now I have got to another, better place and now is the time for me to make some decisions about where I want to go from here.

For me personally service to my fellow men is what excites me the most so each morning a have a simple prayer that in which I ask for the strength to overcome lives challenges and for the ability to see beyond appearances and onto the greater sceam of things.

Emotions of:

LOVE

GRATITUDE

PRAISE

accelerate my vibration.

So those following my excitement at ay given moment.

Losing my expectations about ANYTHING and just being present in the moment as best as I can.

I am pragmatic. I try to do what works, and discard what doesn't.

I was exposed to many of the concepts discussed on this board when I was in my teen years, when I was still trying to find out who I was. While the material I found was very inspirational, in retrospect I wish that the teachings (and the teachers - the usual suspects, you know them already) had been more practical.

Eventually, in order to right myself, I had to become brutally honest about the things that made my life better, and the things that didn't. Other than the "taking action" philosophy embodied by Anthony Robbins, the only "new age" techniques that have actually produced tangible, positive results for me are Visualization, and Focusing (Eugene Gendlin). Prayer works too, but not for the reasons most people think it does.

I don't discount concepts such as "reality creation" out of hand, but I do believe that a certain level of mental discipline is necessary to make them work. You have to be the kind of person that attracts people and resources that are sympathetic to your cause. It requires qualities such as trustworthiness, encouragement, and the ability to inspire. You have to work, effectively. You have to be emotionally stable, and grateful for what you already have. I don't often see that kind of mental discipline discussed in the popular literature about reality creation (or on this board, for that matter). Rather, it is presented as some sort of spiritual shortcut, as a way to materialize your dreams out of thin air.

It is my impression that some of these literary works are written, not by people who have practical experience with the techniques they are writing about, but by people who are simply repeating what others have said already. These are people who are not interested in making the world a better place; they are interested in lining their pockets by making you feel good and telling you that the spiritual path is easy.

I am a positive thinker (most of the time), but I believe in the value of negative feedback. I just don't believe in being paralyzed by it. Some cultural environments understand this, and will allow you to make mistakes and learn from them; others believe in accentuating the positive at all costs. These are the folks that feel you should be positive all the time, and that there is no place for negativity at all. Sometimes I think you have to be real instead of polite.

Mental discipline is a difficult thing, given the nature of our modern life. Ultimately, I think it comes down to making effective choices. That's what I try to do.

With challenges that come my way I like to look for end result of what I would like to achieve in a positive way. Another way is by giving it some time and sleeping on it, I find that the solution appears either the next day or in a few days, then it all seems clear in what I need to do.

Truthfully, what helps me to tackle life's challenges is the fact that i have learnt to accept the things i cannot change. Whatever comes my way is just another thing to learn from whether good or bad. I see everything as an opportunity to improve on my attitude towards life. Nothing is absolute in this world, every thing changes. Therefore just live your life to the best of your knowledge ability.

First questions I ask when I wake up are:

1)How can I have high energy today (eat positive whole energy-foods? bike? meet a friend? create?)

2) What are my desires as of this moment? Check in with my self throughout the day...

Sometimes when I have free time during the day I just make it a a game and deliberately go out on a walk and wander around asking my intuition where it wants to go, where it wants to lead me. I have manifested really interesting things this way- interactions, new friends, money, seeing cool artwork, finding out certain information ( I landed my apartment by walking past a flyer during one of these random intuition walks) Last week I found an envelope that said "pick me up" on this street that I got this weird urge to go down. Inside was a super nice note from "random guy" (which is how he signed it...lol!) And a 5 dollar bill! Not a ton of money but deffinately a cute and meaningful surprise! Weird and fun things like that always happen when I do that game of spending some time everyday letting the universe tell me where to go and letting go and trusting that with no real objective, its super fun everyday to have some time to be deliberately aimless and feeling good.