Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Had to close the blinds today because of the positioning of the sun. I’ve been doing these weekly “looking out my back window” posts for over four years now, and I never once closed the blinds before. Every photo was open, I never even thought about looking at it any other way. Then life handed me a situation I had to cope with, and it was fairly easily handled – just shut the blinds. But there were other options available. I could have just tried to deal with the sun in my eyes. I could have moved to another room. Sometimes we can be sailing along in life, everything going as planned, not a care in the world, and wham. Life happens. We get bad news about our health, someone close to us passes away, we get let go from our job, or any number of things could happen at any time and change everything from that point forward. When we get bad news, sometimes we choose to close the blinds in our hearts. Why us? Why them? Bad things happen to good people sometimes. As we go through life, we will endure suffering. And at times like that, nothing seems fair or right or good at all. A broken heart can heal, but it won’t love the same way from that point on. Often the toughest times we go through in life will set us up for our greatest achievements. Recovery is like that – you hear a lot about having to “hit bottom” before you can recover. But when you’re at or near the bottom, it’s very hard to even imagine opening up to love again. While the blinds are closed, you get an opportunity to look at life from an entirely different perspective. You realize how fragile every moment is, and how little control you have over anything. Then you can choose from there how you want to proceed – by closing all the rest of the blinds and sinking into the darkness, or opening the blinds back up and seeing the new day with fresh insights… Sometimes life hands us life positive opportunities, too. We get the dream job, we meet someone who stirs our heart, we find out we have a new family member on the way, any number of good things can happen suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly as well. At those times you feel like nothing can stop you, you’re in the zone, and everything will just sail effortlessly for you from then on… and we all live through this dichotomy. Wherever you are today, remember that the people you meet are on their own timeline. We’ve all been nasty to someone because of something else that was going on in our lives at some point. We’ve most likely all been on the receiving end of something like that as well. So let’s try to be as kind as possible whenever possible and help everyone we meet in whatever way we can. Open the blinds and let your life, your soul, your love shine forth. Feel every emotion. There isn’t enough time to live any other way.
