It's a hard knock life...or is it?

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Most of us have gone through periods where things just didn't go right, didn't seem right, or just didn't appear to be what we really wanted. Some of us have been through times where we were down and out with no apparent exit strategy for getting out of the muck and mire.  For others, there have been deep moments of depression, almost inescapable.  No matter how hard life may have gotten, no matter what you may have gone through, there is a reason for each of these events, and an opportunity to learn.  No one ever said that learning was painless, but learning is always profitable.

I as of late have found myself looking deeper at things.  I tend to do this when a shift is coming.  I like shifts.  I like change, but alas I am human and sometimes change can be a little scary.  What I want you to do today is begin to look at things a little differently and maybe in doing so you will learn that not all things that appear to be bad are really meant to be bad in your life.  I have been through so many ups and downs over the last 15 or so years.  There have been times when I really wanted to put a gun to my temple and pull the trigger.  There have been times when I scaled the mountain tops and saw the beauty that was life.  We all go through different periods with different results but the key to any period is to learn from them.  If you fail to learn you are going to go through it again, no matter how painful it may have been the first time.

Our existence is cyclic.  We have always been and will always be.  Now some people will argue this point, but truth is truth.  Everything in the universe is energy.  The 1st Law of Thermodynamics says that one can neither create nor destroy energy.  That means that all the energy that is here right now was here from the beginning of time and will be here until the end of time.  Now you can call the energy that is you anything you want.  You can call it spirit, soul, essence, it doesn't matter.  The point I want to make is that you have been around the block a few times.  You have experienced the ups and downs of life a few times, and you have been given the opportunity to learn from them.  We go through certain phases of life to get us to a specific point.  If we can't get to the specific point then we will get the opportunity to navigate it again until we get where we are supposed to be.  I see people all the time who fight things.  Go ahead and waste the energy, you are going to go through what you are going to go through to teach you what you need to learn.  My advice is pick up on the lesson as soon as possible and move on with life.

I'm asked the question all the time about people who struggle and why them and not someone else.  I look at people all the time and wonder what their plight in life is and why it's theirs and not another persons.  I look at people and wonder how many times they have gone through an event and instead of being joyful only found hurt and pain.  I look back on my life and certainly there have been things I never want to go through again, but I did learn from them.  Now the learning may have come after many years, but eventually I could look back on things and see exactly why things happened the way they happened.  Let's be honest, if you have never gone through a trying or difficult time in your life can you ever really appreciate the really good times of life?  I not saying I seek after difficult times, trust me, difficult times will find you whether you are looking for them or not.  What I'm saying is that instead of running away from bad times look at them as an opportunity to really grow and in that growth you will find the joy in the situation.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I know what you are going through, or what you might be feeling or thinking.  I hate it when people do that to me.  We all have different paths and what I go through is going to be different from you might go through.  What isn't going to change is the reason you or I are going through something.  I can empathize with people and their various struggles or setbacks.  I can reach out and offer comfort when something bad happens to a friend or family member.  What I can't do is make people learn what they are supposed to learn.  There is nothing worse then that person who is always telling you they told you so or that they knew the exact outcome of what you were trying to do, and they told you all about it before you ever started on something.  You almost want to slap the crap out of them.  What I want you to see is that no matter how difficult situations may seem, or how lousy life might be there is an opportunity to find the joy.  Joy being brought into any situation brings more joy.  I know that may not be much consolation, but when you're up to your ass in alligators its nice to know there is a boat on the way to pull you out.

Life may be a challenge at times, but boy isn't it nice to know that you are still around able to face the challenges?  You are here right now because there are still things you need to do, things you still need to learn.  My advice to you is to take as much life as you can get and run with it.  Enjoy life, share life, be life to others.  The lessons you have come through may be the lessons you can share with others and make their challenging times a little less daunting.  

Life can be full of hard knocks, but each hard knock is a knock on the door of opportunity.  Yes that may sound corny, but it's so true.  Embrace challenges and know that growth, knowledge, strength, and stamina are going to come out of each one.  Remember you are here right now because you are supposed to be here right now.  Walk in your destiny and share your life with others.