It seems that there has been so much pain and bad news in our community this year. So much tragedy that I have felt myself tense waiting for the next bad news. I am heartbroken for so many and as the old saying goes life goes on anyway.
The one thing we can count on is that it is coming for all of us. No amount of worry, planning, armor or medication can give us immunity to pain and heartache. What we can do is steal the joy from today with our regrets from yesterday and fears for tomorrow. Honestly, today is all that we have! Whether today is full of joy or pain it is ticking away and we don’t know what tomorrow will bring except certainly change.
We can choose to let all the loss, heartbreak, and hurt inflicted upon us be an awakening. Our choice can be to live each day to the fullest in honor of those that can’t anymore. We waste so much time by losing focus on what is truly important. We think we will be happy when we reach the next milestone. Whether it be high school graduation, marriage, children born, an empty nest, a new house, retirement. We all seem to lose sight that we don’t have a destination that brings contentment and joy. Joy is only truly found in the journey. In each day as it comes.
Even when we accept that life is a rollercoaster of highs and lows with everything being temporary. We can fall into a trap of desiring to fast forward through the lows to the next blessing.
Dare we consider that the lows are the only way to true joy. We all seem to want the rainbow but we complain about the rain. We all desire the sun to shine on our faces and our lives. But we know that sunshine all the time makes a desert. We need all emotions to grow. This desire to mask our pain through prescription drugs, alcohol, work, shopping or whatever it might be could be the key to our disconnection to our spirit.
When we disconnect from our spirit we enter survival mode. All we care about is ourselves. We become selfish, untrusting, fearful, and we do whatever feels good. It is like we are drowning.. When someone comes to save us we often try to pull them down with us. We embrace our base itching scratching instinct and just do what feels good with little thought of those we hurt.
What makes the difference? Something bad can define you, destroy you or make you stronger. How do we become stronger and fill our lives with joy again after great pain!
In my humble opinion we have to first take ourselves out of survival mode. We keep it simple. We feel the pain. We sit down with it, pull up a chair and have tea with our friend, pain. We sit in that discomfort until we have learned all it has to teach. You see, time does not heal. You only heal when you feel the pain and find peace with it. Pain is the only thing that can teach us who we truly are. It is not our enemy. We must run toward it.
I believe that you can’t really live until you die a little. When you almost die in that darkness you grow. The darkness allows you to see your internal light to illuminate your path and your internal compass that points the direction to your purpose. Or you can spend the rest of your life running from it. Thinking woe is me. Using it as an excuse to not move forward, help others or fulfill your purpose. We have free will.
Shakespeare said, “There is nothing more confining than the prison we don’t know we are in”. Don’t allow pain to confine your spirit without you even realizing it. Don’t allow it to steal your ability to help others. Learn to walk through hell like you own the place. And when you get out go back in and help pull another soul out of the fire.
I hope you will join me in striving to allow pain to be a teacher, guide and friend. I believe that to realize one’s purpose is our only obligation in this life. We can view pain as a stepping stone to getting us there. A room full of souls on purpose is unstoppable.
Leave feedback about this