The soul’s interpretations.
For many years, I was lost in the immediacy of my own tunnel vision judgment. Everything that occurred was viewed through a myopic lens, designed to create a reality that justified the beliefs that I held on to.
These beliefs met my needs, but in a way that was destructive and painful.
But I believed that way, because it ‘felt right’.
I have slowly come to learn and accept that nothing has ‘meaning’ unless we assign a meaning to it. It took me a long time to ‘unlearn’ all the beliefs that held me to that point of view, but once I finally broke through I realized an incredible truth.
The quality of my life comes down to the meanings that I assign to the events in my life, and everything, and I mean everything, is in fact a choice.
In my day job, I have treated many people involved in car crashes. Two specific situations come to mind.
In both of these situations, a patient probably have should have died, and only escaped death by the smallest of margins, like a tenth of a second.
Neither accident was the patient’s fault.
One walked away grateful, seeing every day as blessing, as a day she shouldn’t have had, and lived her life accordingly.
The other walked away scared, and essentially stopped doing anything other than the minimum to sustain herself. She was afraid every day of what could happen.
The quality of their lives after the accident was directly attributable to the meanings that they assigned to the accidents that really should have killed them.
This is a hard truth, because there are some people, even some of you who are reading this, who have been through horrific experiences.
I do not for one moment mean to minimize your pain, your heartache and your nightmares. I know they are real, and I weep for your suffering and wish I could take it from you.
But I believe that however difficult your life is, there can be moments of sunshine, joy and happiness if you can learn to accept and apply this lesson to your life.
That life is beautiful, and the quality of your life is determined by the meanings you assign. Life can be cruel, life can be unfair and life can be horrible, but if you can find a meaning to sustain you, you can survive through the worst of times, and flourish in the springtime of your re-growth.
Today, I invite you to question the meanings you assign to events that occur or situations that you find yourself in. If this is new to you, don’t try to change the meaning, just become aware of what meaning you assigned.
Then ask yourself why you chose that, in the midst of all the possibilities.
Your meanings control your destiny. Choose well, and life can be beautiful in the midst of darkness.
-- Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings