Believe in yourself and have Faith that you will rise above...!!!!!!

We will all feel pain in our lives at one time or another and we will all suffer from that pain. However, do we really need to suffer to the extent that we do? There's no getting around pain in a human existence. We will have physical pain and emotional pain but the level of suffering often is something that we can change. 

I can speak only of my own experiences when I write this message. I know that I have endured pain in my life. Illness, loss of a loved one, pain from watching a loved one suffer, just to name a few. What I now know is that the level of suffering that I do at the hand of each of these experiences is something that I can let get out of control or I can keep under control. I've lived a life based on fear. Fear of what could happen, fear of letting people see me as the sensitive person I really am, fear of this, fear of that. I worry about things I can't control, I worry about things that happen to other people, the list could go on and on...

I know that I can't stop challenges from presenting themselves but I also know that I can control how far I let that suffering go. I have found that my mind goes out of control at times, lost in the "what could happen" from this scenario. I lose sleep thinking about things that I have ZERO control over and I know it. It's taken a lot of self work to get to the point where I recognize my mind taking the leap off the cliff into bedlam. I recognize it as it's happening and am able to put the brake on. 

However, knowing it is happening and putting the brake down doesn't make it STOP. It slows the process, it gives me time to look at the situation and face what is happening. You can't hide from these things because that just makes them come back again and even stronger. You have to learn to recognize the backward movement and face it. See it for what it is and then adjust your thinking so you focus on what you can control and let go of what you can't.

Some of the things that have worked for me are to look at the thoughts running around in my head. Are the worries realistic and do I have control over the outcomes. I ask myself why I am feeling as I am. What am I afraid of? What will my worrying about it do for me? Most of the time after I have this little conversation with myself I realize that my worries are unfounded, based on outcomes that are out of my control, or are not my worries at all and not mine to carry. I, like you am a work in progress and I make wonderful advancements and then I have days where I fall back. It's all part of the growing process. Even though I wish that I was just moving forward and making advancements all the time, that's unrealistic. I can be proud of the fact that I am moving forward, that I am aware when I fall backward and that I can face what is in front of me and bring it back under control. You can do it too! I have Faith in all of us that we can make our lives better and in turn affect the lives of so many others.

Believe in yourself and have Faith that you will rise above. There are lessons in every aspect of life and we all have to learn them. We can learn them through immense suffering or we can learn them with less. The choice ultimately is ours when we recognize this truth.

Just keep believing...!!!