Withstanding Adversity

Riding the Currents

“...We cannot foil the tides

but we can learn the timing

and the grace of turning so that force of water

gives us strength,

and helps us on our way to some new place we

didn't mean to go,

yet where we can arrive in safety, with exhilaration,

gratitude, relief,

still whole and even more ourselves

for having found the way to be in partnership

with currents

we had not anticipated.”

Judy Brown (excerpt from “Currents”)

I keep returning to the subject of surviving through unfortunate circumstances. We see people do it all the time, and it always seems miraculous. Their homes are flooded or burned to the ground, a shooter sprays bullets and loved ones die, a child falls terribly ill, a car pile-up on the interstate leaves them battered and broken. Sometimes we walk away from such dreadful situations unscathed, and sometimes, injured and forever changed. It seems so random and unfair—and yet, we persist, and yet, we continue.

The human spirit is an amazing thing. It stands in the midst of unimaginable pain and suffering, and somehow keeps looking past it toward a better future. I don't know what gives us this eternally optimistic spirit, but I believe it is connected to our soul. Our soul, having existed forever, having experienced every sort of good fortune and adversity, understands that this too shall pass, and life will go on. Our soul encounters both great good fortune and life-altering trauma with the same equilibrium—because it's experienced them before and knows that both are transient. If, when our life takes an unexpected turn for the worst, we can cleave to our soul, ask for its guidance and wisdom, I believe we can overcome absolutely anything. I remember the people I met in New York, who had survived the concentration camps in Germany and gone on to lead happy, productive lives. It seems miraculous—because it is.

In the face of misfortune, we can learn not to fight the current, but to use its velocity to move us along. Allied with our soul, we may learn to trust that something important is being worked-out in this unimaginable adversity, even though we may not comprehend what it could possibly be. And, we can hold tight to our friends and family and take strength from their love. Our soul is most comfortable in the crucible of love because that is its home. And, it is our home, too.

                                                             In the Spirit,

                                                                 Jane