Finding Wisdom In The Dark

I write a lot about embracing challenges and pain.  I think this concept became really clear to me after my husband passed away and I was left with the devastation of losing a two and a half year struggle to keep him alive.  The first question that popped into my heart was: “What do I do now?”  The second was: “There has to be something to be gained out of all this pain otherwise it is just too brutal.” And so I embarked in trying to figure out what good could I find in my loss.

What I found was through embracing my loss, I found me.  And having found me has transformed my life.  Now how does one embrace their pain? By not shying away from it. By not side-stepping. By having the courage to look the loss in the face and with humility know it is a life experience.

Life is about gaining wisdom through experiences without any quality being attached to it. Experience doesn’t care if it feels go or not.  It only cares about opening doors to wisdom. Understanding this concept is what gives pain meaning.

Now I don’t look for difficult experiences in order to grow. I’m not a masochist.  But when difficult moments present themselves to me, I accept them and remind myself it is part of life and part of my personal journey. We must all learn to love, to lose, to laugh and to hurt.

Below is an interesting post I found on the Huffington Post on the same subject.

Good Things Can Grow In The Dark

By Dennis Merritt Jones

“All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous, unpremeditated act without benefit of experience.”
~ Henry Miller

As I opened the door and stepped into the darkness of my kitchen pantry to grab my box of Cheerios this morning, I looked down and noticed a bag of potatoes, which had been sitting on the floor for a few weeks. Upon closer examination, I could see that most of the potatoes had begun to push out little sprouts...Continued