To recognize the opportunities that show up for us everyday requires a discerning awareness that supersedes our judgements and knee jerk responses. We’re continually invited to develop our abilities to know and discover the true nature of what’s happening in our own worlds and those of others. This ability to comprehend what we observe beyond the superficial is a skill set requiring conscious awareness and insight.

I was unaware of my distain for the rampant commercialism that’s overtaken every holiday in America while shopping with my wife yesterday. I was not in a good mood but rationalized it in my unconsciousness. On our way to one more store, I made a comment about the money we were spending. She stopped and poignantly asked, “Do you know this is the fourth negative comment you’ve made about money this morning?”

I was shocked. How had I turned this opportunity for fun into disaster? How had I dropped into the unconsciousness of scarcity from abundance? How had I gone against my best intentions, lost attention, and missed the many opportune moments for joyful presence on an outing with my partner and friend? Recognizing how my judgements opposed our highest good I woke up, apologized, and turned danger into opportunity.

You see, embracing opportunity takes place in our day to day interactions with events. It’s not just the big moments but also the daily ordinary moments that shape our lives. There are 24 hours in every day. That’s 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. How many of these moments are we claiming our power to consciously choose the opportunities present in our lives? How many moments are we making the unconscious conscious?

Embracing opportunity is also about embracing discernment, awakening to our ability to comprehend and evaluate clearly: to see through the many unconscious illusions into the true nature of things. How many times have you disconnected from an opportunity by making a judgment rather than a discernment? Isn’t life’s curriculum about growth and change? Doesn’t it invite living into a more awakened expansive perspective?

I’m always surprised when I find myself out of alignment with my Higher Self, shut off from my own aliveness. I’m also surprised when, in my unconsciousness I miss the opportunities in Life that want to empower and inspire me. How aware are you of the power that’s in each moment for opportunities of abundance, joy, and transformation? How effective are you in consciously making the unconscious conscious?

The next time you find yourself experiencing danger, sadness, fear, or scarcity; take a moment to discern what’s going on. Turn the danger into opportunity, the sadness into joy, the fear into love and the scarcity into abundance. Take responsibility for your power to affect the world and discern the transformation you can create in the moment . . .