Saturday 16 November 2019

See Our Way Forward

At certain times in our lives it is difficult to see our way forward.

Finding the way of controlling the stories we tell ourselves and which ones we choose to believe can be daunting.

The place of our power, the process of our power is watching the thoughts that we think, the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, understanding that even though we didn't put those stories there, we have the power to change them.

Telling new stories is the key to recovery - we can disrupt negative thoughts.  We never have to go back to that negative space once we have a framework for understanding where to go with our suffering, how to transform it into something useful.

When we face our fears or at least define our fears, we can come up with an action plan to combat them.

There is a wisdom that comes from the experience of working through our fears.

Wisdom is always the by-product of facing our fears.

“In the beginning I was so young and such a stranger to myself I hardly existed. I had to go out into the world and see it and hear it and react to it, before I knew at all who I was, what I was, what I wanted to be.”
Mary Oliver, Upstream: Selected Essays


This sculpture by Kiochi Ishino and is called "In The Grey of Daybreak" - taken at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Sydney, Australia in November 2019. 
The statement says "This sculpture depicts the dawning era of a new beginning in Japanese culture, the Reiwa era. 

13 comments:

Christine said...

Hello stranger! Thanks for this inspiring post.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

There's no greater teacher than experience but man, she's a tough one!

miruspeg said...

Christine and Debra my two favourite Canadians!
Thanks for always leaving a comment no matter how long between my posts.
Yes Debra there is no greater teacher than experience, I'm living proof of that.
Take care dear friends.
Much love
Peggy xxxx

Marja said...

Very inspiring Peggy and we are a work in progress Even though we have figured what is required as you did It takes a while to incorporate it and it doesn't happen by itself either. I am always struggling with that. As long as we are moving in the right direction. Arohanui my friend xx

miruspeg said...

Hey Marja
Lovely to read your wise words.
I read recently to move in the right direction we need to respect ourselves; get emotional support (the energy we get from these people who care about us is a gift); trust our intuition; seize opportunities; and display kindness.
Warmest heart hugs.
Peggy xxx

Mike Smith said...

Wise words as always, Peggy. Sometimes it can help to revisit negative experiences to help manage new ones and revisit the lessons learnt. Good to have you back, my friend!

miruspeg said...

Hello Mike
It's good to be back blogging, I love this community.
Your thoughts about how to manage new negative experiences by revisiting old negative one and thus the lessons learnt sounds feasible, but hopefully won't have to do this too often as I like being in a happy place and surround myself with kind souls.
Be well my friend.
Hugs
Peggy

junemac2 said...

Peggy its lovely to meet you here. Thank you for adding the blogging badge to your blog. I just read your most recent blog post and I totally am in agreement with this. We should be taught these things about life while new to it, so we can be under less stress. Although maybe it would not work that way. Sometimes the only way is experience.

I will add to follow your lovely and wise blog.
June

miruspeg said...

Hey new friend June, thanks for popping over and leaving a comment.
It would be wonderful if we were taught at an early age about how to handle stress/pressure and some lucky people are. The others (myself included) learn from experience and the good fortune of meeting kind souls along the way.

Oh BTW I live in Sydney Australia and I think from the language in your blog posts you are a pommy?

Keep shining new friend.
Hugs
Peggy

Bill Lisleman said...

Seeing our way forward seems like an all too common problem for most everyone. I guess the real problem is when the person doesn't even care to go forward. The ones that have given up hope have the toughest obstacle, themselves.
I've felt knock down very low at a few times in my life. I know and believe faith pulls many out of those depths. But that doesn't work for everyone.
As we should all remember there are no guaranteed solutions but we should all keep up hope and try. I need to remember my own advice too.
Good post.

miruspeg said...

Thanks for your input Bill.
I agree the hardest part of tough times is not to lose hope.
It’s so easy to get lost in cluttered thoughts filled with decrepit hope and feel sorry for ourselves, so I understand why we generally don’t make the effort to be grateful. But being grateful helps.

It pulls us back into the present moment, allowing us to put our troubles on the back burner, even if it’s for just a short time.

Be well my friend
Hugs
Peggy xxxx

Beautiful Sky said...

Another interesting post Peggy. I feel that the key is always acceptance of where we are. I some words today by the wise Pema Chodron (a Tibetan buddhist nun)"Compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself wrong. At that point you could just contemplate the fact that there is a larger alternative to either of these, a more tender, shaky kind of place where you could live."

I hope there will be more posts from you! :D

miruspeg said...

Hey Celia
Thanks for your input, always love reading your comments.
Interesting those words about compassion, there is so much we need to learn about ourselves and the people in our lives.
Hopefully I will be able to share more posts in 2020, I do enjoy the blogging community.
Take care and keep shining my friend.
Peggy xxxxx