Rising from the Falls of Life

Just in this past two weeks I have known tragedy and loss, fraud and disappointment, shame and isolation, depression and despair, aloneness and regret, pain and defeat, sadness and grief. In spite of and despite all this, I have also known kindness and generosity of spirit, compassion and humility, love and care, encouragement and hope. 

Life is a rich and complex tapestry of experiences. It’s not about how hard or how many times we fall, it’s about how we rise and get up from our falls. That is how growth and resilience are born.

The truth is this: we cannot know joy without knowing sorrow and sadness; we cannot know gratitude without knowing loss and pain; we cannot know compassion without knowing hurt and suffering; we cannot know love without knowing fear.

We become stronger, wiser and better every time we choose to ‘rise and shine’ from the hard knocks of life. We become helpless and bitter when we choose to stay down on the floor. 

My greatest turning points resulted from painful moments on my knees when I questioned God, the meaning of life (and death) and my purpose. These are not moments for the faint of heart. But it’s in these moments we come face to face with our greatest fears, and with ourselves. It’s in these moments we come to learn the truth of what it means to be a powerful creator of our own reality. We come to know just how much we are truly capable of when we set an intention to take charge and soldier on.

Sometimes this takes true grit, faith and complete blind courage. Sometimes it’s a gentle shifting of the gears to trust yourself (and life) to exercise clearer and precise boundaries, to enable your way forward and out of the darkness.

Either way, you pick yourself back up off the floor and you refuse to be defeated by circumstances. You are bigger, stronger and more capable than you can possibly imagine.

Our trials, challenges and adversities remind us and help us re-member who we really are! If you can relate to this, please share your story with me in the comments below. When we do this, we are reminded of our connection with one another, our humanity, and the impermanence of life. Many others may benefit from you sharing, including me!

This is why I wrote Enliven-U. It’s a compact book highlighting the major themes of my life experiences (so far). It’s packed with words of inspiration and hope, and it’s the perfect gift for someone who may be having a hard time in life right now. Topics include: resilience, acceptance and pain, OMT (on my terms), leadership, life lessons, meditation, fear, gratitude, change, and mindset. It also makes a perfect heart-felt birthday or Christmas present.  Order now.

For now, I leave you with this message:

May you always know you are loved beyond your wildest imaginings;
you are blessed beyond your comprehension;
you are important to many more people than you can appreciate;
and you are stronger than any challenge placed before you.

Sending you a huge reassuring hug, from my heart to yours, 

P.S. In case you’re wondering…. YES YOU CAN! 

P.S.S. If you know someone who could use these words right now, please share this newsletter far and wide, and help spread a message of hope to others.

For John
With deep love and respect I share a snippet of a beautiful heart-felt conversation I shared with Sir John Whitmore just last year in London. We talked about many things, but this is a small sample that relates directly to the topic of this month’s blog. I hope you benefit from this and enjoy it.