I know that thanks to Gene Kelly, “Singing in the Rain” is more widely quoted. However, following on from yesterday’s shipwrecked sailor blog, I wanted to look in a bit more detail at how we react to difficult and unexpected circumstances in our lives; those occasions when nothing seems to have worked out as we expected and we feel lost, even betrayed sometimes. It is as though the flowing river of universal consciousness has passed us by, or at the very least, left us marooned in a pool far away from it. At times like this we discover that when the going gets really difficult, our own resources seem scarcely sufficient and any of those we hoped would help us, either cannot help very much or ignore us altogether. We are dependent upon our own devices; we feel abandoned to find our way out of the maze into which fate seems to have deposited us, all on our own.
Of course, although we do feel like that when the difficulties or challenges are extreme, we are never totally alone and how quickly it is before we become aware of those trying to help us both here and from the spiritual world, depends upon our attitude. The deeper we sink into self pity and blaming others for our plight, the more alone will we feel. Although we cannot see it, there is both a cause and a reason for us finding ourselves facing this challenge. Because we are only dimly aware of the real world, the spiritual world which is our true home, we tend to look for causes in the wrong places, in the short term, and as to reasons, we rarely become conscious of these until long after the event, if ever. This should teach us to take the long view more often but usually, the challenge we face is so acute, all rational thought deserts us. We bang around hitting out blindly, looking for things or people to blame and tend to waste far too much effort on this largely futile exercise.
It helps sometimes to look back on our lives and remember the occasions, during our youth especially, when things were difficult and see what happened to us subsequently. In many instances, we will find that the new circumstances though seeming difficult at the time, presented us with opportunities that we would never have been aware of before the difficulties arose. Why should the present situation be so different? Can we not by changing our thinking and our attitude transform the difficulty into an opportunity? It might seem impossible at first but if we try to relax, put negative reactions and thoughts out of our minds, and allow our inner light to guide us, it is amazing what can happen. We tend to make so many assumptions in life that it often conditions us against accepting change of any description. This is a shame because life is a dynamic experience. How boring it would be were our lives always predictable. Just think about those people you know who always act and react in predictable ways. Are they not, as a result, less interesting than those happy, relaxed people we know who never seem to react in the same way twice?
How do you measure up against such people? Do you accept life as it comes, adapting to changing circumstances as flexibly as you can or do you expect life to follow a fixed, invariable pattern? Do you have a wider outlook on life, realising that there is purpose behind everything? Do you accept that nothing happens by chance, no matter how difficult it might be to detect a cause? Do you have an inner conviction that physical life is not all there is, even if you cannot put that conviction into words and are not especially religious? If you do then you are well equipped to take advantage of opportunities that come your way, even when disguised as problems. You are also well equipped to allow yourself to be helped by those both here on earth and in the spiritual world that care deeply for us and always want to help. We are never alone, even when certain decisions have to be taken on our own initiative. Guidance is always available and often we accept it without being completely aware that we have been helped. This too is part of the wonderful, rich pattern of life.
So next time the rain clouds gather and it looks as if a terrible storm is approaching remember this:-
"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain."
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