Living Through the Darkness

                                                                                                                 Google Images

You live through the darkness from what you learned in the light.”….Hope MacDonald

I, personally, think it is the opposite. Life is an experience, a learning experience. Experiences help us learn or teach the valuable lessons needed to enhance our development. When we experience difficult circumstances and situations, we develop a new perspective on life. Our priorities change and things that were once very important to us no longer hold the same level of importance and vice versa. At times, these experiences may seem as trials and put us in stressful situations. For some, that is the best learning environment.

During such times, we need to take a step back, survey what is happening, put things into perspective and look for that proverbial “silver lining in the dark cloud”. That is where you will find directions that will lead you in the future. While we should not live or dwell on the past, we should not forget it. To do so will increase the odds of us reliving such an experience until we chose a different direction, grasping what we have learned and putting it into practice. Otherwise, history will keep repeating itself. Remember Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day”?

Those types of experiences also allow us to identify with the sufferings of others. They lead us form camaraderie with others who have been through similar trials. A bond develops, allowing them to acknowledge to each other what they have been through without actually speaking of it. War vets, terrorism survivors, rape victims, transplant patients, cancer survivors, Holocaust survivors are all examples of this happening. They know how these trials and lessons affected others. These experiences also allow us to better perceive the life trials of others, regardless of their nature.

In the midst of these experiences, we seldom see the positives nor appreciate the opportunity to do so. Valleys are difficult to admire and appreciate while we are in them. However, once we climb out of the valley, we can look back and admire the terrain we passed through. We then are amazed that we prevailed and admire that those troubled times yielded more positives than ever thought possible. The experience, in hindsight, becomes a positive one and the pain and sorrow produced is put aside, replaced by the positive lessons learned.

These experiences also allow us to look at what others are going through with empathy, compassion and understanding, allowing us to comfort and aid them as fellow human beings, children of the same Universe. When you are in the valley of life, open your arms and accept assistance from those who have been there themselves. When you are atop the mountain, open your arms and reach down to help ease the trek of those making their way up. For every mountaintop, there is a valley and for every valley, there is a mountaintop. The journey over both is “Life” and all the children of the Universe, you and I, have traveled and continue to do so.

Blessed Be