Losing hope of ever finding peace
I’m 53 and I’m losing hope of ever finding peace in my life. It seems it has been nothing but a string of challenges, defeats, and losses since I was 25. After more than a quarter century of this, I am done. I don’t understand why my life has been life this. What have I done wrong? I try to follow all of the “teachings” (affirmations, medication, visualization, etc.), but it seems to get me nowhere. I need help, and a reason to even bother trying. — LJ, Denver, Colorado
Dear L.J….There is likely nothing I can say that will make all of these feelings go away over night, but I am going to suggest a starting point that worked for me…change your way of viewing the events of your life. They are, as much as they may seem to the contrary, not defeats and losses!
Might there be another you could view these “challenges”? Perhaps as “opportunities”? Perhaps as things to be grateful for? I get, L.J., that the last thing one usually feels in the middle of the drama of life is grateful, but taking a moment to see if there is some way any situation could be looked at through the eyes of gratitude does a couple of things for me…it makes me stop, in the moment, and stop participating in the drama, and it gives me the opportunity (there’s that word!) to decide how I feel about what is going on. Not what other people think about it, not what I am told I should think about it, but how I think about the event. Usually I become a little more clear about who I wish to be from that point forward.
There is no formula, L.J, no “teaching” that will be the magic bullet, until you trust what you already know…that you have done nothing wrong. I believe, as CWG states, that there are no mistakes, darling one. No right or wrong. Only what works and what doesn’t work. Knowing what hasn’t worked in our lives is the only way to know what does…the light and dark, yin/yang of things you know. When you know better, you do better. “Knowing better” isn’t a solo journey of the mind, it must be accompanied on the path with body and soul.
So, I would ask you to look at your life through the lens of what did work. You are obviously on a spiritual path or you would not be in this space today. Is it possible that you would not be on this journey if you hadn’t experienced your life just as it unfolded? Can you now consider that you might be able to change your mind about things going forward? I hope so, because it has been my experience that when I see the joy in the past, and I am grateful for all that is my now…my future unfolds in astonishing ways! Even in the middle of what others might see as horrible, I am calm, and, yes, happy with exactly where I am. (Well, I can’t lie! I am usually calm, etc.! Believe me, I do still have my moments, but they are far fewer.)
If, L.J., you would like to have more of a discussion about this, with more people than just me, see the information below.
Therese
(Therese Wilson is the administrator of the global website at www.ChangingChange.net, which offers spiritual assistance from a team of Spiritual Helpers responding to every post from readers within 24 hours or less, and offering insight, suggestions, and companionship during moments of unbidden, unexpected, unwelcome change on the journey of life. She may be contacted at Therese@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If you would like a question considered for publication, please submit your request to: Advice@TheGlobalConversation.com, where our team is waiting to hear from you.)
