Sharing & Encouragement = Resilience, Endurance & Meaning in Life

[LaurieD]

Hey lovely people

I'm hoping in this thread that we can share about experiences, what gives us strength & hope, to encourage. Life can be brutal but there's still beauty in it too. By sharing the wisdom etc we've learned perhaps it'll help someone else = great stuff :).

My brief definitions:

Resilience = bouncing back

Endurance = sticking with it for the long haul

Meaning in life = “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Atm my life's tough - anniversary times (PTSD, grief), have to leave my beloved island n move, daughter has suppressed immune system in a pandemic, fragile health...

I try to believe things like: sometimes life is fair & good & sometimes it isn't; I can learn to be content anywhere, get used to a new place & still grow; it's not what happens to me that matters but how I respond to it. I need only get through this day, this moment. I stop still, tune out the world, close my eyes & tune to my 4 other senses & seek peace. Most things aren't a crisis & don't even matter - takes a while to realise that sometimes sigh.

And why bother with what life is asking of me now? Why go on? Because I have artwork to create, wisdom to discover, love to give and I want to become bigger than my problems, faults & shortcomings - to be a wonderful person regardless.

Recently I heard this in a Sherlock Holmes audiobook (by Arthur Conan Doyle):

"Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things - our powers, desires, food - are really necessary for our existence, but this rose is an extra. It's smell, it's colour, are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only Goodness which gives such extras and they shine like stars in our world of shadows where treachery & betrayal are the currency of life, driving poor human beings into madness and despair."

It's not easy. Too often it's damn tough to take my attention off the brutal & seek out the beautiful, even if just for a few moments. We can celebrate the lovely moments together, not in denial of the hard stuff but in spite of it. I think of my body as a container for a whole universe inside of me; that universe is as beautiful and wonderful as I choose no matter what's happening in the outer universe. Such power! I am still free to choose my attitude (as Frankl taught). Often it's a stinking attitude lol but at least I can choose a good one too; much nicer.

I wish you courage & peace.

Laurie

[therising]

Hi LaurieD

You are truly beautiful, so full of beauty!

While the smaller challenges may take us only moments to rise to and master, others can take us days, months or even years. The greater ones definitely require resilience and endurance, before we come to master them. I believe once we find the true meaning behind them, we become gifted with greater consciousness; this is our reward. Then we rise again, to the next challenge to be met. My goal is to graduate to sage status 🙂 It's certainly a tough and sometimes torturous graduation process at times.

I have deep admiration for those who raise themselves. Whether they strive to undertake this alone through incredible self-doubt and struggle or they rise through much needed support, the truth remains that they are powerful in their own life.

For your daughter, who I'm sure raises you in amazing ways, I wish her only the best of health through these challenging times and always. She is so blessed to have such a deeply thoughtful and caring mum.

For yourself, I wish such a beautiful and inspirational person well deserved gifts of joy and miracles. Whether such miracles come in the form of simple synchronicity that guides you to a greater sense of ease, I wish you the sensitivity and ability to see each and every one of those stepping stones.

Laurie, you have truly made my day. Yesterday, I hit breaking point. I broke down and vented through a lot of tears. Though the challenges over the last couple of days have not been great, there have been many little ones piling up. While the challenges we face can dismember us momentarily from our natural philosophical self, who takes time to stop and smell the roses, you have made a massive difference in helping me re-member myself.

You are a blessing to many Laurie. You are truly beautiful. You are a brilliant gift of light to this world.

🙂

[LaurieD]

Thank you :). As are you!

I'm quiet in the forums atm because we have to move - it's rather chaotic in a pandemic :).

Stay safe and all the best to you and yours.

Laurie