When you love and are loved you can feel the warmth of the sun from both directions.
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When people must endure intense physical or emotional stress or turmoil, they often feel overwhelmed by it all. They can feel that there is no hope left for them.
If you can look past the shells of darkness which hide the Light (Judaism calls them Klippot) and look beyond illusion (Hinduism calls this Maya), you will not feel abandoned. Look for the Hand of God reaching out to you and reach out to Him, or feel the Ultimate Power in the Universe if you don’t believe in God. Then you can say, “I will find a way out of this with His help, or with this Energy. I am not alone.”
If you spend most of your time focused on your anguish because of awful physical or emotional problems that you are enduring, you can get stuck in feelings of self-pity and hopelessness. But there is a way to escape from that negative force – which consumes your soul and spirit: Be insistent on changing your focus and direct your attention and actions towards others.
You have the courage to do this. Then you will not be stuck in your “woe is me” quagmire. You will find the purpose and direction that you lost. Your positive energy, which is the greater part of your essence, will begin to radiate again. This will bring you relief and, better still, it will bring fulfillment to others. The negative force which consumed you will ebb, and you will soon find yourself free from that emotionally dark prison.
Something good will happen to you today.
We all have a “dark side” lurking within us. It can control us in two ways: One is to make us do things which are bad, immoral, unethical or hurtful. The other way is to let us do good deeds – but to place in our minds ulterior motives which will lead to selfish, malevolent or unhealthy intentions.
Only you can allow your “dark side” to steal your positive energy and make you act in a way that has no spiritual merit or good purpose. Perform good deeds with your true essence – your soul, which is pure in thought and spirit. You have that ability.
My wife has gone through many deep, intense, and trying struggles – both physically and emotionally. Yet she is as quick to laugh and empathize as anyone I have ever met. She naturally finds the humor and sensitivity in life. This is the water in the well of her soul. It carries her forward and through it all.
This water lies at the bottom of the well in your soul as well. It will refresh you and carry you through your present struggles. Don’t allow anyone or anything to cap off your well. Sometimes you may feel like the well has run dry. That is only because you are focusing on the cold, hard wall of the well. Your revitalizing water is always there. Drink from it.
I keep a placard of the Roman Rule on my office desk. It reads: The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it.
Never let words of discouragement get in the way of that which you believe in your heart or mind you can do. Successes are built on the failures of others. Keep trying to accomplish what you believe in. You can do it.
Performing a kind act creates an effect which resonates all the way to the greatest of energy sources and up to the highest of worlds. That act causes an energy and a blessing which comes back to us in some form or manner. A kind word used at the right time can prevent a car collision, a flood, or even a war.
When you do or say something kind today it will, in some way, make a warm and positive difference in the world – even if that change is imperceptible to you.
Our lives contain two kinds of tests: Those that we know are coming and those which are suddenly thrust upon us. With the former, we can prepare for it. When we are tested, passing it will depend on how well prepared we are. With the latter, passing it is up to how well we are able to deal with it. Those tests – which come suddenly without any notice – show the true mettle of who and what we are.
When you pass one of life’s ‘pop quizzes’, be especially proud of what you accomplished. Your success was not based on anticipation but on mental, emotional and spiritual predisposition.
Most of you who read my ‘Smiles’ believe in a Greater Power, in one form or another. Your Greater Power is good, and there are no exceptions to this. Even events which you consider tragic contain Its compassion, even though Its care over you in those events may remain obscure to you.
Leading a righteous life is no guarantee that you won’t endure suffering, but it is what makes your love or knowledge of your Greater Power real. Being good most of the time (we all err at times) will result in a reward in the World to Come. And if you don’t believe in a hereafter, you still have the satisfaction of knowing that you led a life which left a positive impression on your world.
When you have to deal with tragedy, it is the compassion that your Greater Power has for you which allows you to deal with it in this world rather than in the next. And again, if you don’t believe in a hereafter you still know that the trials and tribulations which you go through make you a better person.