Adversity

A time of adversity is like so many stones being dumped on your head. It hurts, and you just want to throw your arms up to protect yourself. You want to give up. But if you stop fighting, you get buried.

So you keep struggling, you persevere. And when the dust settles, you look down and see a curious thing: you now stand on a mountain that was built from those painful stones.

You look up and see a breathtakingly beautiful view. The vista you now see is not only one of beauty, but many of the problems that loomed so large and intimidating now look so much smaller and less significant.

And as you stand on your mountain of stones, a survivor, a person of vision and perspective, you might even give humble thanks for the time of adversity that, although it brought pain for a time, has given you such a wonderful gift.

Reality and Attachment

Reality is a powerful force. Our attachment to our stories is a powerful force. Suffering comes from the collision of our story (our ideas about how things should be) against reality (what is).

To find peace, we must change what we can, get out the situation if we must, or simply accept that at least for now, this is the reality we have. The freedom that comes from making one of those choices can be life-changing.

We don't have to be passive or pretend that bad is good. Just realize that trying to change reality by raging against it with thought and emotion not only does not work, it hurts us a great deal. To accept reality is a profound act of self-love.

To stop the pointless war between “what is” and “how we wish things were” is to stop the collateral damage that war has on our peace and happiness. Let reality and our story live, if not as partners and friends, at least in peaceful co-existence.