Have you recently experienced a crisis, an obstacle or felt unjustly challenged in some way? What did you tell yourself about what was happening? Did you feel angry, frustrated, wronged and/or helpless? Did your self-talk reflect sentiments such as: ”How can this happen to me?” or “I am sick and tired” and/or “I just can’t do this anymore”?
Did it seem like it was the end of the world? I remember when my son was two years old and if he dropped something, he would get frustrated and upset with himself. To comfort him, I would often say: “It’s not the end of the world darling”. Then one day, I dropped something and must have over-reacted or been visibly upset. Imagine this sweet angel of a two year old putting his little arm around me and patting me saying: “Mommy, it’s not the end of the world mommy”. That was a wake up call to me. Since then, I have become better and better at putting things into perspective and not sweating the small stuff.
We all have times in our lives where outer circumstances take on the form of crisis, which we may even perceive as threats. We can allow such circumstances to dominate and rule our lives. Resisting what we are faced with can increase our sense of helplessness and lower our sense of well-being until we take the decision to recognize a burden as being a blessing. Such a turnaround begins with a change in perspective. This intention to turn a burden into a blessing is what can and does heal us.
We can train ourselves to see in the obstacle an opportunity – the opportunity is present and you can turn the worst of crisis into the greatest of blessings. Resisting crisis instead of nipping them in the bud means it can drag on for years on end. This is because what we focus on expands and grows, and focusing on how bothered one is, how put out one is, that one is being victimized and helpless, will exacerbate, prolong and grow the burden.
It’s not the outer circumstances that necessarily create the experience of crises. You do not feel gratitude and thankfulness when you are feeling opposed and contradicted, burdened and antagonized. However, you can feel gratitude, thankfulness and a sense of being supported even in the face of contrary circumstances. This capacity to see beyond the obvious and to respond beyond the learned reaction comes from your connection to your inner wisdom – something I often refer to as ones “Heart Call”.
By turning your attention to your inner guidance puts you in touch with your inner compass. This pure wisdom is accessible, available and instantaneous. This inner knowing guides you to your truth, the knowing that a burden can be a blessing. A willingness and openness to look within, where your true power rests helps you regain your balance and feelings of prosperity. There are a countless number of true stories written that hold testimony to the fact that misfortune holds the seeds of fortune, purpose and a meaningful life.
Obstacles and opportunities, burdens and blessings, misfortune and fortune are two sides of the same coin. Burdens are ultimately blessings – the flip side of the coin really. Financial loss, broken relations and more can be seen as slamming doors, however a redirection of your attention, based on your heart’s wisdom will guide you and support you into experiences where windows are open and you can go through them to something better, where loss becomes gain and therefore a blessing in disguise.
Life is a paradox, and so is everything really. With practice and new experience, your reactions make way for responsiveness. You know that you can change your thoughts, you can change the meaning you give to circumstances and events and looking over your life, you will find evidence of when you were able to make the most of a bad situation. Burdens can be seen as blessings and your thoughts are not in contradiction with your true nature. You can change your perceptions over time or you can begin with a new assumption, not the assumption that the burden is the end of the world but rather that the burden has a blessing and when you look for it, you can find it. So, you can begin with thanks, beginning with thanking for your inner wisdom, that you can connect to it and source it, that you have the power to transcend at least in perception, any circumstance. Taking charge of your reactions, you can choose to respond instead, turning to your thankful practices. When you do this, your life will flow better, more joyfully and freely.
What do you stand to lose by thinking that you can even for a few seconds at a time find things to appreciate – even if circumstances stayed the same. There is more to gain from doing this. When you change the way you see things, the things you look at change. You do have a choice, to resist what is or to act more thankfully. You can run your life, sourcing your inner resources rather than abdicating your power to outer factors. You can get into the habit of asking yourself: “The blessing is here, what do I need to let go of to see it?”
The oak often serves as a useful metaphor when we wish to remind ourselves to be resilient. However you have probably heard that what you resist persists, meaning that when confronted by something unwanted, the act of focusing on it and wanting things to be otherwise, just makes matters worse. You may also remember the fable of the willow tree and the oak tree competing with each other, to determine who was stronger than the wind. The oak tree resisted and broke and the willow tree, just went with it and thrived. The moral of the story is “bend like the willow, don’t resist like the oak.” You bending like the willow is remembering to bend your thoughts around the burdens and reach for the blessing that is present.
Many thanks and much Wisdom,
