Sometimes sad and horrible things happen in life. Things that we don’t understand. Things that don’t make any sense at all. Things that make you question the divine order of everything and wonder how these horrific events can occur.
The world can be a violent, scary place filled with hatred and anger.
And I am the first to admit that I have a hard time embracing this part of our world.
I struggle to make peace with events that bring me to my knees from sorrow.
I have fantasies of waking up one day to a world that is completely euphoric. A place where angels sing, animals play, everyone gets along – complete utopia.
And then I remember that we are all here to learn lessons. And these lessons are often painful and excruciatingly difficult to even comprehend – much less learn from. But getting through these hard times helps us grow. Working on understanding the painful, sad, and sometimes horrific events that occur in our world on a daily basis helps us become more empathetic and forgiving. Putting everyone and every thing in our world inside the framework of learning lessons helps diffuse my anger about all of the injustices that are happening around me.
This definitely doesn’t mean that I am condoning such harmful acts. It means that I am working on seeing them through a lens of understanding, empathy, and forgiveness.
There will always be sadness and pain in our world.
But there will also always be love and learning and growing and helping and forgiving.
And being grateful for both sides of this wonderful world we live in is what I am striving for.
Let’s go down this journey together.
In June I had a terrible bike accident and suffering multiple injuries and a shattered shoulder. I'm recovering from reconstructive surgery and my right arm is barely functioning right now. Holding onto gratitude is saving me from a world of misery. I'm grateful that the accident wasn't worse, that I have many friends and family who're helping me, artists who've maintained my public studio, that I have insurance for physio treatment, that I'm left handed etc. etc.
Oh, I'm also grateful that I can now type and keep up my Etsy shop and blog.
Thanks for your post. Gratitude helps everything. 🙂
Christine – I’m so sorry about your bike accident. Yikes. I truly think that it shows your deep strength to be able to see it through a lens of gratitude – especially so soon after it happened. Bravo to you! And I’ll be sending you tons of healing vibes. Thanks so much for sharing what you’re going through. Big hug to you.
So thrilled to see this post. My blog has a gratitude series too 🙂
I am truly a believer in it. That it is the way to be happy and to unlock one’s heart to receive the blessings of the Universe.
All things happen for a reason and each situation in our life is meant to teach us – Blessings in disguise.
Awesome post. Thanks for posting.
Thank you so much, Suzy! I love that we’re both posting about gratitude! It is absolutely a great way to change your perspective instantly. And you’re so right – all things do happen for a reason, even if we aren’t sure what that reason is in the moment. They truly are all blessings in disguise. I’m so glad you’re here! 🙂
I thank you for the space and the opportunity to post my appreciation. I am not tech survvy and therefore, getting a board, I can write something on is refreshing. I am greteful because today I attended my first community environmental group a platform where I make my contribution in service of our earth.
I am so glad to be here!
Hi Adam,
Thanks for stopping by! Congratulations for attending your first group to help the earth today! That’s wonderful! If you would like to join our Month of Gratitude, come on by and share each day what you’re grateful for! The days are all linked in this post: https://www.jodichapman.com/a-month-of-gratitude/