A really tough lesson that will change your life
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There are many tough lessons for which I have done, and continue to do, the difficult work required in order to learn them. This is by far one of the toughest ones.
I invite you to consider that all of the events in your life today can teach you lessons that will propel your development so you can have a better tomorrow. This is tough to accept, understand, and put into practice. I am in the middle of reading Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” and with each page and chapter I find renewed inspiration. Frankl is a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp and after having endured immeasurable pain and loss he had this to say:
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way…Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom …The way in which a man accepts his fate gives him ample opportunity to add a deeper meaning to his life.”
This is an example of an experience most of us will, thankfully, not have to face. Yet, despite having difficulties that are incredibly simpler and less painful, we are unable to find the strength within us to face them and grow from them. Many times we crumble and cannot move forward. Worse, we become defensive and behave in ways that leave us even more confused. I have been there, done that. We allow the difficulty to rob us of the last of our human freedoms: the freedom to choose the attitude we have in a given circumstance.
Today, start looking at all of your challenges from a different perspective. In my practice, when I encounter any type of challenge, I ask myself: “What is this here to teach me?” I do this with circumstances and with people. I promise to do a post soon on the role people play in your life. For now, I leave you with this very simple homework: Ask yourself daily “What is this situation/circumstance here to teach me?” Don’t make it complicated, trust me on this one. Send me your questions, and I will expand in future posts the different situations that could come up. For now, just ask yourself this simple question throughout the day, especially when you find yourself getting upset or irritated. If Viktor Frankl can do it, you can do it too. With practice, the answers will come.
Lots of love,
Judith