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We’ve all heard the old saying that goes, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” Now there’s a thought. We surely have to do something with the lemons as they come along.

Sucking on lemons takes the enamel right off your teeth, so we don’t want to do that. Letting them stack up is even worse because they rot, and there’s probably nothing worse than a life of oozy, rotten lemons we haven’t properly dealt with. And it’s not like we can hand life’s lemons off to anybody else. No, these are suck-it-up and deal-with-it lemons.

As much as we wish it weren’t so, the fact that life can hand out lemons with abandon intensifies the problem of dealing with them. That’s not really news. That’s just a fact. What we need to discuss is how in the world we handle the regular arrival of all those lemons.

Well, as the saying suggests, we can make lemonade. To make lemonade, we need sugar. Likewise, in the midst of a trial, we need to recognize that the stack of lemons taunting us isn’t the whole story. There’s always sugar around somewhere, those graces of life that pull us through. We’ll miss the sugar, though, if we focus too tightly on the lemons.

Okay, so we pulled in some sugar. Now we can make lemonade. Then what?

There appears to be an age limit on lemonade stand entrepreneurs. We might sell the local paper on running an article on the world’s oldest living lemonade vendor. On hearing of our dump-truck load of lemons, people might show up to encourage us and tell their lemon stories–hopefully only the ones with happy endings. Our picture in the paper might be nice, and we could become a one-day wonder, but from start to finish, we’re stuck focusing on the lemons. Lemonade has its limits. It doesn’t have the power to overcome.

What else can we do with these lemons–which, by the way, are starting to get a little soft by now? We can break out the cookbooks and create a dessert worthy of royalty–or at least a blue ribbon at the county fair. Make it gorgeous. Make it fluffy. Smother it with whipped cream. Dash a handful of chocolate sprinkles across the top. Top it off with the world’s largest maraschino cherry. Don’t hold back. Make it fabulous.

Then take it to a friend or neighbor who’s going through a bad stretch. We use up our lemons. We get to be button-popping proud of our stupendous confection. But most of all, we get to cheer up somebody we care about. Our effort says “You matter.”

If our creation is gorgeous, we’ll impress the tar out of our friend. If it’s lopsided, we’ll laugh our heads off. Laughter is the elixir of anti-lemon antidotes. Which fact, come to think of it, means lopsided is probably better.

We turn our lemons into love. We get to learn we don’t have to be perfect to be kind. And we get our minds off ourselves. Good, eh?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounds more Pollyanna than real. Well, sounds can be deceiving. This is real, my friend. Turning lemons into love works. In the long run, it’s really the only thing that does.

© Copyright 2007 by Bette Dowdell. All rights reserved.

About the author: Bette Dowdell is a former IBM Systems Engineer, small business consultant and software company owner. At the same time, she studied and taught the Bible, including some years of successfully teaching seminary-level theology to grade school children, not a job for sissies. She recently authored How to be a Christian Without Being Annoying, a book about how the Bible describes Christianity. She also creates Quick Takes on Life, a no-cost, weekly e-mail subscription. Read about the book and contact Bette at WithoutBeingAnnoying.com WithoutBeingAnnoying.com Watch a one-minute flash movie of some Quick Takes at takeabreakmovie.com takeabreakmovie.com

Wouldn’t you love to give up your struggles, challenges, and frustrations and live an effortless life? Who wouldn’t? Yet most of us seem to accept these painful feelings and experiences as part of life. To some extent they are, since we grow through our trials, however, to another extent they can be minimized. You can have a more effortless life. Want to know how? Through the effective use of the Law of Attraction!

The LOA operates whether you are aware of it or not, so the more you understand it and use it to your benefit, the more effortless your life becomes. People who immerse themselves in the LOA like those who appeared in “The Secret,” report how much fun they are having easily attracting all their desires. They have trained themselves to focus only on their desires and not on their struggles. And the more they see the results, the easier it becomes to keep their energy attuned to what they want to attract.

You can do this too! How do you start? Begin by becoming crystal clear about what you want. I’ll discuss this further in a future blog on goal setting. But for now, suppose you want to start your own business working at home, yet you’re concerned about giving up your steady income and benefits from your JOB! Leaving that security would be a big step for you—a leap of faith. So to prepare yourself to take that step—using the LOA—you would not focus on your fears and doubts. Do whatever you can to move your thoughts and words away from that. Don’t discuss any negative consequences with your spouse or co-workers. As a matter of fact, don’t discuss your desires with anyone who does not support you 100%. For your focus must be 100%.

Next, envision your new life as an entrepreneur. See yourself sitting in your home office, speaking to clients on the phone, doing the work you will be doing, depositing large checks in your business bank account. See leads for new business coming to you easily. See happy people working with you enjoying the benefits of your products or services. Imagine what you’ll be saying to them. Imagine what you’ll be saying to yourself.

Hold onto these visions throughout your day. If you find your thoughts slipping back into fear, catch yourself and refocus. If you find your feelings slipping back into worry and doubt, reach for a feeling that feels better. Put a smile on your face, sing a song, envision your new business. You CAN change your thoughts and feelings. You CAN train yourself to use the LOA all the time.

Do you see how you can use the LOA to set the groundwork to create an effortless, fun, successful new business venture?