Stepping Into The Challenge
Stepping Into The Challenge
Seeing the struggles in our lives as gifts of experience and teachers of wisdom
There comes times in our live when we have little ‘bumps in the night’; when things stand up and stand out that serve as a call to attention. A few examples could be: new physical discomforts, noticing our communications and relations aren’t coming through clearly, or being without the love and care that we all need, concerns about a loved one's choices, a lump that wasn’t there earlier in life, realizing that someone close to us or our own habits are taking an addictive turn.
Often times these things are uncomfortable to begin with, and it seems like addressing the issue will only give focus and power to it. We may make the choice of skimming over the details, ignoring them outright, or convincing ourselves that it is not our responsibility. A while back someone close to me shared this alternative definition of responsibility: Responsibility is your ability to respond appropriately.
The aforementioned hypothetical issues that may arise in our life can turn from a speed bump on our road to the future or they can turn into a burden should we choose to bear it, rather than taking the time to address it so you may move forward a bit more free and easy. The Nike slogan says it all. Address the uncomfortable, the ugly, the stuff that stinks. Remember that manure yields bigger, healthier flowers. Remember that clearing out the old makes room for the new. Remember that old rotted trees are recycled to grow health and nutritive giving mushrooms. Recall that things literally have to die to give life. Basically everything we consume was living previous to us ingesting it. Disease and death can actually serve as torch bearers in our life. They may light the way, showing us parts of ourselves or our experience that we have focused too heartily on, not making time for what is outside of the box.
Every day we make the choice of how to address the things that come up in our life. It’s not always easy, and sometimes extraneous circumstances and differing perspectives can leave us with a bit more than what we could consider a simple fork in our decisive roads. It’s ok to have to take a rest to consider our direction if we are blessed with the time to do so, and it’s wise to consult your ‘maps’ and ‘tools’ to direct you and help you find the most beneficial path for all involved. With the internet giving us so much useful information (and certainly some that isn’t worth your time), we can really dig deep and gather some insight to decide the best option to take to address the issue at hand. There is, however, one thing that is certain about the direction we want to take: We’ve got to keep moving forward.
In today’s paradigm we may become convinced that we don’t have the support or time to take the care we need for ourselves, but I think we all have many examples to see that when the people around us are happy and healthy, it is easier to be in alignment with happiness and health ourselves. When we take the time to find those qualities in and for ourselves, we become a clearer conduit to share health and happiness with those around us. When we are paying it forward, we are pollinating that joy and vitality in the world, and that is a powerful thing.
We all have different capacities to help others, and one should be conscious of their own boundaries and how much energy they may put into a situation. Some have a tremendous ability to hold space and to shed light for others. These are the nurses, the psychologists, the pastors, the guides in our community that we look to for insight and to work out our grief with. But we all carry a spark that may rekindle another’s guiding light when their spirit is dampened. Let’s not forget that, and that when we take responsibility for the communal spirit, we can each keep one another’s light well fed and together hold vigil for a brighter tomorrow.