Perspective

All we need is a change in perspective . . .

Life is filled with questions, answers, trials, lessons, beauty, wonder, pain, joy, darkness, light, inspiration, sadness and so much more. All of these can be found in everyday experiences, it is just a matter of perspective. Pain and fear can keep us stuck in a place, even paralyzed. Perspective can free us from even the darkest depths where once we may have drowned. Taking a step back and looking at any particular piece of our lives offers us the chance to be more attentive to the gifts within the pain. Renewed perspective can fill us with renewed hope and peace instead of trapping us under the giant thumb of fear.

Fear is powerful because we feed it, absorb it, become one with it and it directs our lives away from our natural, desired path. We can take back the power by turning the fear into joy, possibility, love and light. Whatever it is that is holding us down, we must embrace it!
If fear is keeping us from trying because there is a possibility of failure, look to the lesson it is holding for us. What is the worst that can happen in failure? We can learn from our mistakes, grow from the point of failure and move forward into success the next time. If fear has us stuck in a place because we are concentrating on the failure itself and continually telling ourselves how faulted and bad we are for failing, fear has the upper hand. Take back the power and tell yourself that you needed that experience of failure to grow and better your life. Show yourself that growth is necessary and embracing failure is the best way to move forward into who you are meant to be.

We are totally in charge of our thoughts and how we allow them to make us feel about ourselves. So, tell yourself about the goodness in you. Remind yourself daily to have the willingness to change your perspective and see the gifts in everything. Yes, I did say everything! Gifts come to us in ways, we are not always able to see, especially when we are drowning in suffering, loss, grief, pain. Make the choice to experience the pain, swimming around in the deep blue of it and soak up all that it has to offer. Do not let pain consume you, swallowing you whole as it can easily do. There is beauty in pain. Some of the most beautiful gifts of my life have come from the most painful experiences. Suffering can gift us with great strength if we allow it to. Loneliness can remind us to treasure the beauty in shared moments. Death can teach us to treasure loved ones and the many gems they stuff into our pockets of life. Physical pain is a great reminder to us not to take our health and all that it affords us for granted. Suffering through abuse can build up walls in the heart to protect and strengthen. It can also create a compassionate, far-reaching soul that has a deep understanding for the capacity that the heart has for healing and reviving life from within.

The gifts in pain and suffering are endless and are there to be discovered and bring you renewed perspective. The perspective is yours and that makes it easily adjustable. The ability to do this will bring immediate results. Changing your life is truly as easy as changing your point of view! We all have sad stories to tell but they are just that, stories. These stories do not define us unless we let them. By repeating these stories, we are telling ourselves and others that they define us, when they do not. Our stories are tools that we can learn from.

Here is an idea, thinking of a very personally painful time in your life and on a piece of paper, write down 5 lessons that you took away from it. If you repeat this lesson with other difficult times of life, the lessons will become more and more evident. You may even notice that you have been trying to learn the same lessons over and over again in life. When we learn the lessons that we are meant to, we can share them with others and truly help each other. Pain should not be the most powerful emotion that we experience. Beauty and wonder are meant to fill our days, our hearts, our minds and our souls. It is attainable. Life as beauty is attainable. Fullness of days and love that permeates our life is not a fairy tale, it is within us and we are the masters of our universe.

Find your peace, find the beauty, discover the light within the darkness until you escape from the shadows and soak up the fullness of each and every moment!