THROUGH BROKEN GLASSES

There are times when we are forced to stop. To simply stop. To let go. To take care of ourselves. To remember how to breathe. To nurture no one else but ourselves. 

I have learned this recently, or perhaps more importantly, relearned this.  In recovery mode for two weeks after minor surgery, I have been given a great deal of time to rest, to sleep, to discover those people who are really there for me - there for me no matter what, asking nothing, simply being present. 

"Often the most loving thing we can do when a friend is in pain is to share the pain...to be there even when we have nothing to offer except our presence and even when being there is painful to ourselves." ~M. Scott Peck

In these hours and hours of reflection, I have come to some rather interesting disjointed conclusions.  So here goes!

Sometimes we are looking for obstacles rather than magic. Don't we all put up walls and barricades at points in our lives that prevent us from experiencing life, living life, having the life we deserve? I for one am going revel in the magic!

Sometimes we have to work through the stress in our lives to find that all along balance is the key.  We need to resist the tendency to look at life through broken glasses.  Everything is not wrong!  We need to make the effort to appreciate the blessings, for it is in balancing the scales that we gain perspective and the ability to handle whatever comes our way.

Sure there are times when we get battered and bruised, and it is in these times that we have to simply say to ourselves that 'it could always be worse.' 

People don't always rise to our expectations and disappoint and demolish our once highly held admiration. People will come and dangle a carrot in front of us and just when we are ready to grasp it, they suddenly show you who they really are. 

"Speak quietly to yourself and promise there will be better days.  Whisper gently to yourself and provide assurance that you really are extending your best effort.  Console your bruised and tender spirit with reminders of many other successes.  Offer comfort in practical and tangible ways ~ as if you were encouraging your dearest friend.  Recognize that on certain days the greatest grace is that the day is over and you get to close your eyes.  Tomorrow comes more brightly.
  ~Mary Ann Radmacher

I also came to the conclusion, or realization if you will, that it is because we have not attended to the wounds in ourselves that we have no capacity for the pain of others.  Because we ourselves have too often refused to heal, we cannot heal others.  It is a fearsome carousel when we anesthetize ourselves.  It can block us and color us and make us paranoid.  And on and on the circle goes.  These are the people whose hearts become hardened. These are the people who are stuck. 

It has been said that those who swallow a stone become a stone!  The question then remains, once battered, how shall we learn to live again?  Perhaps the answer can be found in a quote from Maria Robinson.  "Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."

So upon deep reflection and observation of those who sat close by as I healed, I stand staunchly by my beliefs.  I will continue to strive to bring a glimmer, a glimpse, of peace and solace and comfort to those who need it the most.  I resolve to rescue a breaking heart or a crushed spirit or soul in need.  And I will remind myself that, if it were easy everyone would be doing it.

"You must know that in any moment a decision you make can change the course of your life forever: the very next person standing behind in line or sitting next to you on an airplane, the very next phone call you make or receive, the very next movie you see or book you read or page you turn could be the one single thing that causes the floodgates to open, and all of the things that you've been waiting for to fall into place."

~Anthony Robbins

It just can't get much better than that. 

So today when I go to the doctor and he asks how I have been doing, I probably won't tell him the whole story, but I will tell him that it has been a journey I shall not regret ~ or forget!