Passion | Progress | Potential | Purpose
By Rosalee Pilling | 08/23/2020
Think about where you are today, and look back at all the things that you have been through and see if you can pinpoint the very time you learned how to manage what you are facing today. When we learn the pattern of life, and can identify what life is actually teaching us, we are better able to embrace the challenges, and ride out the storms intentionally. Contrary to popular belief, life storms are not to be dreaded and feared. Instead, life storms are to be welcomed and treasured as they build character, resilience, and strength of spirit. They also help to alleviate stress, reduce anxiety, decrease the symptoms of depression, and bring about peace, confidence and give you the assurance that it is preparing you for something greater.
There are some things to be aware of as we attempt to meet life’s challenges a different way: 1) Life will repeat experiences until you have learned the lessons. 2) Life does not adjust to us, but it will give us ample opportunities to learn how to adjust to it. We can resist all we want, and defend, and fight, but if we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that our testimonies have emerged out of the dust of life storms.
When your life is in turmoil, it is pivotal that you maintain focus on the goal at hand, especially if what is happening is outside of your control. This means that if it is outside of your biological, psychological, or spiritual domain you have no control over it, therefore internalizing it will slow your progress and prevent you from fully learning the critical life lessons. For example, when a loved one dies it is tremendously crippling, and if you are not careful, the impact may take you down, and change your life for the worst. This is why It is important to grieve and live (stay focused) simultaneously. Not many people know how to do this, because society teaches us that we should feel guilty for living after a loved one has passed, and this is not true. In fact, the more you live and carry the memory of your loved one, is the more you keep that individual alive. Stay focused on your goal no matter what is happening around you. Life storms are not going to go away and one thing to note is that your storms grow with you. That is, the stronger you get the stronger, and more intense life’s storms get.
When we are in the middle of the life’s storm, it can feel like time is not moving and that the storm will never end, but this is far from reality. Throughout your life you will experience several life storms, and each one will pass. When you are in the storm, hunker down and be still, and in that stillness, listen, open your heart and your mind and ask yourself this question “What is the lesson in this life storm?” If you ask this question and you are not still, you will not hear the answer. Being still does not mean that you stop working, and playing. It means that you reflect, pay attention, accept, and take action.
I have always dreamt of having my own business, and I have tried many ventures over the years, but they failed because I started to lose interest after the first few months of excitement. Bottom line - I wasn’t utilizing my natural gifts – so no wonder I lost interest quickly. I noticed that this was a pattern (reflecting) and that the time, and resources that I was putting into these businesses continued to be wasted (paying attention), so I decided that while I would not change the goal of having my own business, the route that I was taking needed to change (accepting), and that I needed to say no (take action) when these types of opportunities present themselves. This was not easy to do. I believed in being self-sufficient and not depending on anyone, so whenever I would hear about an opportunity that could lead to the vision that I had for myself, I would jump on board.
When you are going through the Life Storm and it is threatening to take you down physically, mentally, and spiritually, take detailed notes of 1) what you notice about yourself in this time (tiredness, oversleeping, not sleeping enough, weight gain, weight loss, frowning, hygiene, heart rate, pain, stomach discomfort; self-defeating thoughts, devising hasty plans, blaming, anxious, sad, despair, powerless, hopeless, worthless, lonely etc.). 2) Take notes about the time that it is taking for the life storm to pass; and 3) what new things you are learning in the storm (everything learned is significant), because you will certainly need to use what you have learned later. Life storms are there to prepare us for what is to come, therefore if you learn the lessons and grow from them you are now ready for greater things in life. Please keep in mind that the greater things are not necessarily things that will only bring happiness, they may be things that bring sorrow too. The difference is that you will be spiritually fortified to be able to handle what life brings.
Life’s Storms are there to help us grow from strength to strength. During challenging times all that is required is for us to stay focused, be still, and take notes. Remember that every experience is for you to learn a lesson and if you don’t learn the lesson you are bound to repeat the experience, for without experience there is no lesson and without lesson there is no learning, and without learning there is no growth, and without growth you cannot get to the next big thing that God has in store for you.
As always Be U Because No One Else Can.
Comments