‘Wisdom moments for daily living’ |07 November 2014

-    These contributions from Care fall in line with its mission of building resilience – capacity in people, through the imparting of knowledge,  skills, attitudes, and ways of looking at life which are conducive to personal, family, and community growth.

-    Contributions will focus on issues, insights, coping strategies, for various target groups such as youth, parents, couples, teachers, families, addicts, as well as the general reading public.

-  The aim here is to offer some degree of comfort, hope, and faith for readers, so that they may be helped, to find their own solutions to their life challenges, whatever these may be.

-    Inputs will include a blend of applied psychology, common sense, applied spirituality, and experiential learning, and can also be part of the continuum of efforts of Care, for education, prevention and intervention, for substance-abuse and associated ills.

We are glad to be able to reach out to others through the readership of such contributions, and we hope that they can be useful and inspiring for those who need some shouldering and companioning on their life journey.

Seven things to remember when life gets rough and tough


1.    Grow stronger and smarter

Difficult times do not just come into your life to make you go down and keep you down.  On the contrary, they come as potential teachers to help make you grow stronger and smarter. Remember, it is often the deepest pain that bears the capacity to empower you to grow to your full potential. What challenges you or even scares you, can sometimes be most worthwhile, if you learn to face it and build your coping capacity.  Pain and suffering bring a desire for release, change and growth, as we need to learn from them.

2.    You are not a helpless victim unless you choose to stay stagnant

There is an understanding which says that we are the creators of our own experiences.  Of course, we also know that other people and circumstances can and do influence us.  Sometimes, it is unfortunate that bad things can happen to the best of people, but we all have our share and turn. That is the way life goes. Yes, there are times when we may feel that life can be unfair, unkind and unjust. However, being stuck in a “victim mentality” does not help anyone’s ability to move onward and upward. We all need to take positive steps to grieve, to repair and to heal and grow.

3.    There are many lessons to be learnt from failures

    Often in life failures come to show us that something has not worked out well.      However, seen in another way our failures may be telling us that we may need to     reconsider other options, and not just see the end of the road. Life teaches us that     many great achievers or successful people have “failed” many times along the way.      There is a teaching that shows us that a failure turned inside out points to another     opportunity coming along, that we may not be able to see as yet.      We need to be     patient and courageous to learn from our failures and try again and again. As long as     the breath of life still remains within us, there may be opportunities to learn and grow.      Hope and faith are necessary for the yet unseen to become visible in time.


4.    If you don’t get something you want, it may mean something better is waiting

At times this could seem very hard to believe and accept. But who knows, there could be a measure of truth in it!  There are times in life, when you look back, you understand better why things didn’t work out the way you wanted. Sometimes, there is an unseen logic of life that works in our favour to protect us, even when we do not know how or why. So we must learn not to be too pushy or obstinate, while striving to be determined in our positive pursuits. Have faith that everything happens for a reason that may not be obvious at first but will make sense eventually.

5.    Things can and will change

Two sayings from wisdom traditions tell us:  “And this too shall Pass”. “The Only constant thing in life is change itself”. Sometimes though, times can be so tough or enduring that we may come to believe that’s it – nothing will change, there is no way out. However, let us remind ourselves that nothing is ever permanent, all things change.  That is a law of life. Too often our conditioned habit of thinking that things will always be this way, limits our vision and hope. Nevertheless, we can help change and improve things by resolving to take some form of positive action. Just dreaming or wishful thinking won’t make things happen. Time demands of us that we play our role.

6.    If you want things to change now, you need to start by changing yourself

Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world. Hard as this may seem, many wisdom sources agree on this point. There is a general tendency for the way we feel inside to be reflected on the world around us. For example, if we feel sad and lonely inside, the world outside seems to be a sad and lonely place for us. The vibrations inside of us tend to find echoes of the same kind of vibrations outside of us.

That is why we often mistakenly think that if we change our external circumstances, things will change for us. Sometimes yes, but most often not, for as the saying goes: “Wherever we go, there we are!”  When we try to control circumstances and/or others rather than working on our self-transformation, we often end up dis-satisfied, frustrated and depressed. Therefore, it is better, although it can be quite difficult, to make efforts to change ourselves first, before our circumstances will begin to change.

7.    Anything is possible when you are determined to go forward

When you have faith that people can change, situations can change, and apply it in your life, be prepared for any surprises, if you persevere.

This is part of the law of miracles. Yes, miracles can and do happen, for Spirit when aligned with matter, work in harmony to make possible what appears impossible.

There are so many true stories, in diverse faith followings and cultures, across time and space, to attest to that: such as miracles of healings and self transformations. Miracles are in the realm of everyday living. Belief can lead to faith and faith can lead to manifestations. Let us open ourselves to this possibility.



Contributed by:     Jonathan Weatheral and Robert Ah-Weng,
Care House, Tel: 4324566/4324242,  
Email: care@seychelles.net
Facebook page: CARE, Seychelles