If It Doesn’t Kill You: It’ll Make You Stronger
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As you go through life, you will encounter challenges of varying natures and degrees of difficulty.
Some are so little that they scarcely deserve to be mentioned, while others are either very dangerous or extremely earth-shattering.
Nevertheless, they are united by a single aspect.
Each difficulty is only a disguise hiding a solution that has been tailor-made to fit your requirements; it is a gift that has been given to you.
It is absolutely OK for you to choose to amuse yourself in your life by playing with the wrapping paper, the bow, and the box.
If you do so, there is nothing wrong with this.
You are free to insult them and talk about them.
You can appreciate all the nuanced details that went into their creation.
But if you allow yourself to be preoccupied with the issue, which in this case is the wrappings, you will never be able to open the present that has been particularly prepared for you.
Regardless of the nature of the issue at hand, the solution comes with a set of distinctive characteristics.
It is not possible to impart this information directly into either your consciousness or your awareness.
You need to make a conscious decision to recognize it and to embrace it as your own before you can do so.
You are the only one who can take off the wrapping, and you are the only one who can take the present out of the box.
When you have an issue, that problem is not simply present in the world around you.
It is a component of your mental universe, and it genuinely arises from the pattern of your thoughts and emotions in some way.
This is difficult for some individuals to accept because, on some level, they are adamantly committed to the notion that they would never voluntarily put themselves in the position that they are in at the moment.
However, it is not your fault if a certain circumstance has come about as a result of your actions.
You just selected mentalities that chimed in harmony with the “problem” that has materialized.
Where is the Value in That?
All issues serve one function.
They direct your attention in a certain direction and provide you with a choice: you can either turn to the outside world for solutions or you can search within your creative source for answers.
The challenges you face provide an opportunity for you to adopt a fresh viewpoint towards your life.
This is a positive thing since the viewpoint you now have has brought you to the issue that is now emerging in your experience, and this is true regardless of whether the problem in question manifests itself physically, psychologically, or socially.
Do not, however, jump to the conclusion that everyone gets cancer for the same reasons or that everyone who goes bankrupt did so because they followed the same road to get there.
These are quantum leaps that should be avoided.
For instance, being diagnosed with cancer is a terrifying event since it might put one’s physical life in jeopardy.
If one is prepared to see beyond the wrappings—that is, the agony, the suffering, the dread of death, and the regret for things that were not done—a problem of this magnitude is an indication that there is much to be gained spiritually if one is ready to do so.
Cancer treatment may just provide one individual with the opportunity to reorient her attention in such a manner that she is able to rediscover who she really is, shed the mask she has been hiding behind, and understand that the treasures she has been searching for have always been inside her.
Because the cancer is such a strong metaphor for how her anger has eaten away at her and devastated the quality of her life, another person may be able to discover the power of forgiveness as a result of the metaphor.
It doesn’t matter how much you go through if you never see beyond the sorrow and accept the gift that comes from it.
Many people give suffering a position of honor, but that doesn’t change the fact that it has no value.
If, on the other hand, your pain is the primary focus of your attention, then it transforms into what is known as “useless, unnecessary suffering,” and it no longer contributes to your spiritual growth.
What Available Options Do I Have?
If you choose to wallow in your issue and let your fear overpower you, the problem will destroy you both physically and mentally.
Wallowing in your problem will enable your fear to take control.
If you make the decision to exclusively look to the outside world for solutions, you may be able to push yourself to survive the experience you’re going through right now, but the issue will come back in some other form.
Why?
Because the Spirit will never stop fighting for you.
God will never stop providing you with fresh chances to acknowledge and accept your completeness.
Faith is essential in order to reach inside the confines of your box of pain and grab hold of a fresh notion.
Belief in “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” is required for it to be effective.
It demands thinking about things that are unrelated to the topic at hand.
Your capacity to recognize and embrace that new notion while simultaneously welcoming it into your universe is a measure of your faith.
If you make the decision to turn the door of your soul inward, toward God, in order to look for answers, you will emerge on the other side of this experience with a deeper awareness of who you are than you’ve ever had before.
This is the goal of your existence here on earth, and it will happen if you choose to open the door of your soul.
You are here to learn how to express yourself as a creative being, one that is formed in the image and likeness of God, by continuously taking advantage of every opportunity that lessens the shadow that is thrown by the notion that there is division between you and God as well as between you and other people.
In other words, you are here to learn how to express yourself creatively.
Therefore, each challenge that does not successfully kill you, either physically or mentally, ultimately results in increased resilience.