(Pictured above) Phil (left) and Floyd (right), early days at Jindivck. Phil is an inspirational patient who is a prostate cancer survivor. He went on to make many positive changes in his life, and raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
Right now, we are all on this wild, often scary & overwhelming journey together. Many people are suffering, and there’s not a lot of really clear guidance on ways to get through what’s going on. I have found that one way to get through these hard times is to first seek perspective. Perspective. What’s good here? What am I grateful for? Some are doing it tougher than me. Perspective is a really important thing to be playing with as we’re navigating challenging times. I’ve often found it helpful to remind myself that there are many troubles I’ve avoided and so many amazing things I’ve been given access to over the years. I’ve also found that there’s a real power to showing appreciation. The universe reciprocates our energy. So, if we’re showing gratitude, we’re going to be given more things to show gratitude for.
A second way to handle and find strength in hard times is to focus on finding the good. We need to be able to find reasons to be optimistic— some way our circumstances may actually be beneficial to us in the long run. It’s nearly impossible to bounce back when we’re focusing on how horrible a situation is. It’s much easier when we can find blessings in disguise within difficult times, or identify lessons that can help us going forward.
But this doesn’t mean we don’t experience difficulty or distress. In fact, I’ve found those of us who are resilient have a much more diverse set of emotions than those who are not. We feel pain, mourn losses, and endure frustrations, but we understand that pain is temporary, and we focus on identifying the positive in the negative and opportunities in challenges.
Okay, well this brings me to my third way to finding strength in adversity, which is: being empathic & compassionate. By responding to adversity with empathy & compassion, we are inadvertently helping ourselves. If we understand the suffering of others, it motivates us to have compassion and want to help them, which builds strong social bonds, and is a way of allowing ourselves to become more resilient. It is human empathy that will help us get through these dark times and lead us to a better and brighter world.
One last thought, as we learn to find strength in times of adversity, we will feel more empowered. When we feel empowered, there are no limits to what we can achieve, so do all you can to find that strength so you can feel empowered.
I’m Brett Thiedeman – Just an ordinary guy, focused, conscious and intentional about my learning, growth & being a change maker in my own life and the lives of others.
