Life Lessons

I have read a book titled How to be HAPPY, dammit: A cynic's guide to spiritual happiness. The book is written by Karen Salmansohn and designed by zinzell. If you have a chance to buy this book, don't pass it up! It's well worth it. I am going to insert the first part of this book here, it leads into what I want to share today.

You were born into this world an innocent.

Guilt-free.

Sugar-free.

Caffeine-free.

You are noble and pure.

Then suddenly...

You are spanked.

Really hard.

This is unfair.  

You have done nothing wrong

You know this for a fact

How?

You haven't had time to do anything -- period.

You are only 3 1/2 seconds old.

 

You haven't had time to catch your breath, let alone time to covet a neighbor or furtively screen calls on your answering machine. You don't even have an answering machine yet. You don't even have people to avoid yet -- you are that spanking new.

 

Which brings us back to that spanking.

 

WHY?

Why you?

Why all the pain?

 

Although you're only 3 1/2 seconds old, you just have been taught a 

big life lesson.    

Pain exists. 
Life can hurt. 
Like a lot. 

 

Even when you're good, you can get whacked.

Without apology.

Without explanation.

 

Well,

 

           at least not right away. It's not until later, that you finally learn

that pain back in LIFE LESSON # 1 was for your benefit.

 

You were being
 taught to breathe,
 invited to suck
down a yummy
oxygen/nitrogen
cocktail. That 
painful whack 
was necessary
 for your growth. 

That excerpt is true for every single thing in your life. It starts from the moment you are born. Many people believe that there times of struggle is a Higher Power punishing them for an unknown reason. There are two ways to view the curve balls that life always seems to have in store for us. One way to look at it is punishment and the other way to look at it is a blessing. Those who feel punished for what they are going through often do not realize that their negative thoughts toward the situation are actually stimulating more negative in the situation. Let's look at it this way. You have a white flower and in the vase you put Red food coloring in with the water. At the very beginning the flower is pink, but as you add more food coloring the white flower begins to turn red. Why? You are feeding it more red food coloring! 

Now let's look at this situation in a different way. When we look at our struggles as a blessing it creates an opportunity for self growth. Instead of circulating in self pity we are able to stand on the outside lines and be our own critic. We are able to look at the circumstance and see what the challenge is for us in our lives. That challenge is the lesson you are supposed to learn about yourself. It is there for you to become a better person. By recognizing that you have this fault, you are able to turn it into a strength. You have a white flower and in the vase you put green food coloring in with the water. At the very beginning the flower is a light green, but as you add more food coloring the white flower begins to turn green. Why? You are feeding it more green food coloring! 

Our thoughts create the outcome in our lives, the more you feed a positive though the more you will see positive in your life. The more you feed a negative thought, the more you will negative in your life, just as if it was that white flower. So you ask yourself, okay I can look at is in a positive way but HOW is it a blessing in my life??? How could hurt, pain, agony, terror, how could that possibly be a blessing? 

Giving birth. It is the most painful thing a woman can go through, and if you're a man you just know this. There is pain, agony, terror, and hurt (in a physical way), but once you get through all of that you are given the worlds greatest blessing. 

After you get through the hurt, pain, agony, and terror, you are given the blessing of becoming a stronger person.

It is your choice to embrace your life, and nobody can make that choice for you.