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Turn Your Lemons Into Lemonade!

The Dalai Lama famously wrote, “Hardship, in forcing us to exercise greater patience and forbearance in daily life, actually makes us stronger and more robust. From the daily experience of hardship comes a greater capacity to accept difficulties without losing our sense of inner calm. Of course, I do not advocate seeking out hardship as a way of life, but merely wish to suggest that, if you relate to it constructively, it can bring greater inner strength and fortitude.” What beautiful words to live by!

Many of us, including myself, need to hear this over and over again, and perhaps have it imprinted into our brains in order to remind us that our struggles often shape us into the man or woman that we are today, and without heartaches and painful experiences, we would not have the ability to realize the strength of our character.

I myself have been through so many hurtful situations, so many deceitful actions from others, so many disappointments and yes, similar to everyone else, it does affect me at times, and I am resigned to shaking my head at the enormous amount of pain that a particular situation, or individual person has inflicted into my life. But I chose to never let that particular situation change me in anyway, but choose to only learn from the experience and try to move on as best as possible.

The important thing to remember is that your struggles and hardships do not define you, and whatever situation that you are going through, unfortunately, someone else is going through something much worse at that very moment. That is really no consolation I know, as your problems seem gigantic at the moment, and your thoughts are certainly not on another man’s issues at this particular time.

However, this is the appropriate time to really consider that your problems, however insurmountable they may seem, pales in comparison to someone else‘s, and your compassion for another human being’s struggles, will allow you to see the beauty within yourself, as a caring, kind-hearted human being: even if the electricity bill has not been paid, and the threatening notes and reminder phone calls are piling up every day.

Also, remind yourself, like I do, that you will never be given more than you can handle as Christians believe, and all struggles and painful experiences are really and truly a part of God’s plan: which incidentally is my belief as well. View all your struggles as a challenge, a duel of sorts between you and the unforeseen forces, with you emerging as the victor at the end.

Last but not least, learn to turn your lemons into lemonade, which not only helps you to re-focus on your goals, even through your pain and anguish, but it also enables you to foster a healthy appreciation for all that life has to offer: both the good and the bad.

As a writer, I am blessed to be able to release many of my day to day struggles and tensions with one a stroke of my pen each week, relinquishing all pent up anger and frustration within my work. Many times, the most hurtful of situations have been my most profitable and successful articles, as showing one’s vulnerability is always appreciated by others. My belief is that we all have a source, an outlet where we are able to release all of our tensions and turn our lemons into lemonade. Find your own source!

Difficult as it may seem, it is attainable to use the most difficult of situations for your own benefits, the trick is to admit the problem, face it head on and then clearly define a game plan which enables you to not only recover from the struggle, loss and pain that you are facing, but also find a way to truly help others through your experience.

As Henry J. Kaiser wrote, “Problems are only opportunities in work clothes,” as we are truly reminded that this too shall pass, and we must tackle each problem with steadfast resolve, a little luck and definite help from the one up above.

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