January 1

  

Today's quotation:

Life is difficult.  This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.
It is a  great truth because once we truly see this truth, we
transcend it.  Once we truly know that life is difficult--once we
truly know and accept it--then life is no longer difficult.  Because
once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

M. Scott Peck

Today's Meditation:

How many difficulties do you find in your life?  We have problems with relationships, finances, jobs, cars, hobbies, addictions, decision-making--in short, just about everything.  But how many of those difficulties do we make even larger and more intense because of our perspective, because of the way we see them?  I know that in my life, many of my most difficult moments have been caused by my own view of situations, not by the situations themselves.  I've missed meetings at work and have agonized all day over what the repercussions would be, only to find out that there were none--everyone understood why I missed.

I'm growing closer to accepting that life is difficult, and I now see most difficulties simply as a part of life and as opportunities for me to learn and to grow as I work my way through them, rather than as obstacles in my way that are going to cause me many problems.  Now that I accept that fact, the difficulties seem to be fewer, and the challenges are more manageable.

This is going to be a good year.  And yes, there will be many difficulties in it, for you and for me.  Accept that fact, and the hardships will be fewer and less intense.  Acceptance of difficulties allows us to relate to them in a much different way, just as acceptance of a person allows us to relate to that person in a much more positive manner.
Questions to consider:

How do you see difficulties in your life?  Do you accept them as learning or teaching situations or wish they would go away?

What would your life be like if you had no more difficulties?  Would it be a positive change, or a negative one?

Have you grown more as a person when dealing with difficulties or when life has been flowing smoothly?
For further thought:

Sometimes things which at the moment may be perceived
as obstacles--and actually be obstacles, difficulties,
or drawbacks--can in the long run result in some good end
which would not have occurred if it had not been for the obstacle.

Steve Allen

  
  

  

 




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