Staff Writer - Katrin Callender
We work so hard during our lives to achieve a particular status; to attain a thing desired; to find an answer to the questions which weigh on our minds. It is seldom easy to progress from the starting point to the finish line. We all grow tired. Some discontinue the race. Some go off the course. Some of us finish. We seldom know at the start which category we fit into, until we are tested.
We cannot forget the difficult journey that got us to the finish line but we can avoid making it the focus of our life thereafter. I am not advocating denial either, but if we allowed ourselves to get caught up in the struggle and not enjoy the success, our effort would seem a waste. If we spent our lives complaining about what it took to get there and how many obstacles and ‘haters’ stood in our path, trying to make us falter, we might forget to express our gratitude for the things that worked out and thank those who had helped us along. In a nutshell, in always recalling the painful memories, we might become blind to the joyous ones; in focusing on how close we may have come to losing, we might lose sight of the fact that we now wear the medal.
It is not always possible to wear blinders and block the ugly side of life from view. And even if we could, some of the unpleasantness might lay before us. But to permit ourselves to continue to see it long after we have conquered it is to negate our own effort, our strength and our success. Might we not strive to see clearly, rather than through a skewed lens, polluted by negative thoughts? I once heard a similar thought being expressed by one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He spoke to me of problems that might pop us and suggested that they were like a piece of paper. It might not be possible to throw the paper away, but one could move it aside rather than let it block one’s view of the path ahead.
I agree completely with this gentleman. While we may not control events about us, we have a great deal of power within to control the way we perceive things. If a particular perspective is dangerous to us or hampers our progress, why not change it and enjoy the happiness that comes with that shift in perception.
