Most of us “get” this cliché. It just makes sense. It is so familiar. We have likely lived this many times. But, let’s look around its edges, see what some of its corollaries are, some of its less obvious benefits. Heck, by the end of this little passage I may even convince myself to turn over stones around me to seek out difficulties and challenges!
We know that typically when we catch a flu or cold we get sick but eventually recover. How great those first few days are after regaining our strength and full lung capacity! Our body now has familiarity with that nasty invader. Our body makes special molecules that float around in our blood for many many years as a way to jump start our immune response should we see something like it again in the future. We don’t even have to remember to do this, it just happens! If that (naughty?) little bit of genetic code did not kill us, it made us stronger. Thanks naughty little invader!
That is one of the lessons. What a blessing! It is all in how you look at things. Train yourself to look at them as opportunities or blessings. For really what is up or down anyway, there is no absolute reference point anywhere in the universe, believe me I have looked!
And truly, the more we practice, to borrow yet another cliché, looking on the Brightside or looking at the glass as half full or don’t worry be happy or so many other flavors of this same delicious dish, the more automatic it gets. The more we lay down the actual neural networks and synaptic connections to live in that world. The path gets more and more happy, heck it even gets down right happy-ish!
The Covid-19 pandemic is an obvious example. It has tragically killed millions of people already. Millions. We have nearly lost as many Americans, officially, to Covid-19 as all the combat deaths America has lost in its nearly ¼ of a Millennium of existence (660 thousand according to Wikipedia). It has brought tremendous pain and death and dislocation to countless people (and animals and maybe even trees and rocks, they too know something is amiss). But, if you are reading this, it has not killed you, it has offered you the opportunity to be stronger. It is what it is, we are only talking about what we can choose to do relative to it and what our bodies and brains and souls will do guided by our subconscious and unconscious and those of the multitudes that went before us. We are not so omnipotent nor omniscient to choose these battles, we simply find ourselves at their doorstep.
I have begun meditating with a discipline that I could not seem to find ever before in my life. As soon as I finish this I will walk down to the river and meditate. I have finally resumed painting again. I have really stepped up my culinary game. Of course, it is not all “Facebook rosy picture successes”. Thank you, Covid-19,! I am stronger, I am happier. Of course, I am also sadder. I really really miss being able to sit in the same room as my friends and loved ones around the world. We have lost a couple extended family members. Many other friends and family have gotten sick and have been hospitalized. I can fill my head with one of these narratives, I choose the former. It is no more or less true than the others. It does not do disservice to those who fell to the disease for us to use the good bits to build a better world.
We are a product of experiences and beliefs and relationships. The path that we walk is our own. What a blessing! We can share our strengths and talents and resources and encouragement with others who might be going through a dark forest or teetering on a windy cliffside right now. What did not kill us made us stronger, made the path more abundant, and just maybe made the path and resiliency of others happier and stronger. What did not kill you made ME stronger! Thank you! It is all connected. There is no best path. Whew, no need to try to find what does not exist. No need to beat ourselves up for not having predicted the future. It is all just opportunities or challenges. Which way will you look at it today?
