Today, I’d like to talk to you about the fourth “sweet” benefit I see in having struggles:
the opportunity to LOOK WITHIN !
Years ago, I used to reflect on what the hardest aspects of life were.
If you had asked me then, I would have said the hardest thing about life is relationships!
If you’ve been alive more than a few years, you’ve come to realize having and maintaining healthy relationships is NOT easy..whether a marriage or couples’ relationship, a friendship, a parent-child relationship, a sibling relationship, etc..
However, over the last several years, I’ve totally changed my mind on how I answer this question.
Now, I say the hardest thing to deal with is my own inner world – my heart, my mind, my emotions, etc.
Why? Because that’s what I experience life through –> my own self !!!
What that means is whatever I think, feel, and experience is inside and through me, not outside of me (though outside forces and situations can trigger thoughts and feelings inside of me).
As a quick aside, for a fun TED talk on understanding emotions, check out this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gks6ceq4eQ
Proverbs 4:23 says “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
This verse stresses the importance of keeping watch over our own hearts because it is through our hearts that we experience the world and therefore experience life.
So, struggles may be an opportunity for you and I to look within and learn to understand what is happening in our own inner world!
I understand this may not be our natural inclination, but I would argue – from personal and professional experience – this is well worth it in the long run.
So, here’s the question I’ll leave you:
When you struggle, do you take time to understand your own inner world?
If so, how do you do this?
Or if not, do you reflexively avoid it? And if so, what is the reason?
Let’s see the SWEET SIDES of struggles so we can THRIVE in life!
