A Used Book or Gently Loved?

Day 2

Affirmation: 

This is not happening TO me, it is happening FOR me.

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Life throws curves,  shows us pain, and sometimes – well, sometimes it just feels like a lousy deal, and during those really challenging times most of us will ask at least one “why?”

• Why am I being tested? 
• Why is this happening now?  
• Why is this happening to me? 

But what if it isn’t…

What if it isn’t happening TO us?  What if the hardships and smack-downs aren’t happening TO anyone?  What if they are happening FOR us?  We – beautiful humans that we are – like to take and make circumstances deeply and singularly personal, all the while forgetting that the challenges we face in life have deeper purpose and always hold some kind of potential.  Our trials teach us, strengthen us, break us of our self-centeredness, and force us to create change.  In our distress we learn to reach out and experience inter-dependence, while giving others a chance to learn about compassion, empathy and consideration.  In the face of struggle we solidify faith and learn to let go of what we can’t control.  We become empowered, find our voices, straighten our spines and realize that we’re much stronger than we ever imagined.  In times of difficulty our souls expand, our hearts learn they’re resilient, and our minds become resourceful.

So how do we get from “Why?” to “Wow!” ?

We get there by shifting our perspective from that of one of life’s wounded to that of an empowered participant.  When we stop feeling like life is attacking, thwarting and punishing, and shift to believing that life is offering opportunities, everything changes. Finding gratitude – however small a morsel – in the face of even the most painful of situations shifts our perspective from hopelessness to possibility.  When we make the shift we move from feeling defeated to feeling capable, exhausted to determined, emotionally insolvent to functional problem solvers. And when the difficulty has resolved and we see how the shattered pieces of our world have rearranged themselves into a new and ever more beautiful mosaic, we reprogram ourselves to understand pain, sorrow, difficulty, and struggle from a beneficent spirit and a tolerant heart.

We are a lot like so many other beautiful things in the world – a little softer, a little wiser, a little mellowed, a little bolder,  and a lot more flavorful when we allow ourselves to be aged, ripened and gently loved by life.