I haven’t posted for a few days, not because I had nothing to say, but because I wanted to let my post about Memorial Day stand for a while.
That said, it’s time to move on and find inspiration for our daily lives and what better source that the ultimate cool dude of our modern times – the Dalai Lama.
“When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways—either by losing hope and falling into destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find inner strength.” (Dalai Lama)
We certainly all meet tragedies in our lives. Some we just remembered as we honored the fallen who served our country. In other cases it might be the death of a beloved parent or sibling or spouse. Sometimes it doesn’t involve death, but just really bad news or events (think fires and tornadoes). Whatever the tragedy, we must not let it pull us down into hopelessness and despair.
In searching for that inner strength many turn to their religious beliefs. There is probably no more positive and uplifting message for any occasion than that which can be found in the Bible. Religion, after all, is man’s answer to the things befalls us in this life that we cannot understand or control.
I’ve written several times about dealing with things that happen in life both big and small, so wander back through a few of those posts. A common theme is that the big scary things, sad or hurtful as they may be, don’t kill you and you must find a way to go on and that way is already within you – it is your inner strength. It is that thing that pulls you through when you think that you can’t go on. The Dali Lama calls it your inner strength. A pastor might call it the peace that passes all understanding. Some might call it guts. Whatever you call it, you must call upon it to get you through those tough times. You’re still here. You’re still standing. You will go on. Don’t hang your head and look at your shoes; how it up and see the future.
There are many stories that come out every Memorial Day about those left behind in the wake of the tragedies of wars – the widows and children. There are also always stories of the great things that many of those widows and single moms accomplish after those tragedies. These are the women who found their inner strength and who not only met the challenge but went on to excel often establishing service organizations to help others going through tragedies of their own. They did not fall into despair, but, rather rallied into action.
So, how will you react to tragedies in your life? Will you fall into a mournful, “Woe is me” despair or find your inner strength and find some good to make of the situation? Finding your inner strength doesn’t make the hurt go away, but is does give you a better pain reliever that you’ll find in a bottle (of any sort). So, let’s end on another snippet from the Dalai Lama, taken out of the context of a longer quote…
…pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.
To avoid suffering,find your inner strength.
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