Pine trees growing at the top of Nevada Falls
(Yosemite National Park)
A surprise met us at the top of Nevada Falls--pine trees growing out of the flat rocky plateau! I took a picture of them just so you could appreciate what I saw. How?! We've all seen them before: plants and trees growing from impossibly difficult places--yet thriving! I always find myself admiring them as living symbols of tenacity and strength.
Like these trees, we too can overcome seemingly impenetrable obstacles and create a beautiful life for ourselves in spite of the hardships along the way. Today's update explores how to do just that.
Top Three Ways to Transform Hardships into Advantages
Life-affirming choices for success
Imagine being a little seed from a pine tree landing on a flat, rocky plateau and thinking, "Hey, where's the dirt?!" Your little seed body is shriveling in the cold wind, and the ground beneath you is closed, unwelcoming, and unprepared. But being a feisty seed filled with passion for life, you send your roots out anyway. You won't take no for an answer and choose to live day after day. The rock beneath you eventually yields, making room for you. The sun and clouds come by to aid you. Years later, tired hikers struggle up the mountain and take your picture as you stand tall, a living emblem of life's amazing power to overcome hardships.
There are two ways to use hardships: we can use them to fail, or we can use them to succeed.
The ones who failed would say, "If it weren't for my hardships, I would've been a success!"
The ones who succeeded would say, "I wouldn't have succeeded if it weren't for my hardships."
Between the hardship and its outcomes lay our choices. What kinds of choices maximize our ability to transform hardships into advantages? Having worked with thousands of patients and having experienced personal hardships, here are my top three ways:
Choose to remember the hardships so that the next time a similar problem occurs, we will be able to deal with it better. Suppressing or repressing our difficult experiences not only robs us of the opportunity to grow from them but also undermines our ability to face other similar situations. Though it takes courage to remember our hardships, it is far better to face and process them than repeat them because we've refused to deal with them. Greater compassion and empathy for self and others evolve when we remain connected to our experiences.
Choose to learn how to be a better person even from hardships. Don't waste half of life's experiences by believing that only positive experiences create positive outcomes. Let every experience show us something valuable. We are powerful creators whose intentions can transform negativity to positivity. Hardships do not need to be the reason for being bitter, broken, or defeated. They can be a door to expanding ourselves, discovering truths, or creating new solutions. So, don't be afraid to face them and step beyond their threshold.
Choose to align with positive energy as we face hardships. Allow positive energy to flow through us. It's easy to respond to hardships by keeping things (energy) for ourselves (creating stagnation) or becoming as negative as the problem (misaligning and lowering our power). The basic quality of energy is that it flows. By consciously intending to let positive energy flow through us, we can become a channel for the strength we seek. In other words, as we give that which we now value because of our hardships, we will thrive and others will benefit also.
Our common struggles connect us to each other. As difficult as it is to ask for support when struggling, being authentic about our hardships allows us to be seen and loved for who we are. We deserve unconditional love, but unconditional love cannot be unconditional if we pretend to be perfect.
I would be interested in your feedback and ideas on how to transform hardships into advantages. I hope that as you face hardships in your life, you will benefit from them and become stronger, better, and wiser.