Have you read the book by Dr. Wayne Dyer as titled above? If not, I recommend that you do. I just finished it myself. Personally, I haven’t found a book of his yet that was not profound, enlightening and all around delightful.
Reading this book he takes you on a journey of a variety of his memories from throughout his life and ties them in to how he can now see that they were lessons for him along the way. I have often felt this way about my diverse work experiences. Somehow they all brought me to be where I am today. They all add value to my “bag of tricks” from which I can draw to best serve my clients.
This book took me beyond looking at just my work journey and on to my own personal journey, which I share as teaching points for my courses. The most profound discovery for me was looking at how some of the most horrendous experiences and the people who hurt me the most were truly some of the people who gave me the greatest gifts.
When you come to this realization you come to understand that you are now a grown up. You now are reaching toward inner personal growth that springs you beyond the petty and hurtful and into the grateful and loving. It’s a very hard thing to look back at people who struck you to your very core and then say “Wow! Now I understand why that happened.”
It could be that they broke your heart but you learned that you can survive that and you can find love again.
It could be that they lied, cheated and stole from you and you learned that you found a way to trust again and recover from the trauma…you found inner strength and better judgement in who you keep company with because of what they taught you.
It could have been a controlling or verbally abusive situation where they took your strengths and tried to tear you down, but you rose up. You said, “you say that is where I am weak, but I know that is where I am strong, how dare you?!” And you set off to show them they were wrong. So really, their plan backfired because you were inspired to show off your greatness.
It could be any number of situations. The harder it was, the greater the lesson. Take being a single parent. There’s a really tough one. Especially if the other parent is mostly out of the picture and you are left to be the sole provider: financially, emotionally, physically, etc. You have a huge responsibility and yet you do it. You end up not only providing for your children, you end up inspiring them to do and be more. So, was that parent’s absence a blessing then? I think perhaps it was.
You just don’t see the lessons and the blessings so clearly when you are in the throes of living them. It’s later on when the dust settles, your life has calmed, and you can look back and see just how very far you have come. You can take a deep breath and say, I did it! I made it. Look how far I have come. And you feel a deep sense of pride and fulfillment.
This is when you find the time and space to say thank you to all of those bad situations and difficult people in your life. Where you can say, now I get it. Now I understand why you treated me the way that you did. It was all so that I could grow and change and be the wonderful person that I am today. Thank you for your gift, I hope you have found such fulfillness in your own life. Then you release that person and all of those bad feelings and memories. They no longer have a hold over you and you feel great.
This is what I received from reading this wonderful book by such a beloved and much missed teacher. Thank you, Wayne Dyer. Your teachings continue to reach and change lives!