Why it is important to embrace life's Spiritual struggles!

Why it is important to embrace life’s spiritual struggles

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress”

Fredrick Douglass

It is really important to embrace life’s struggles. Just as we embrace the good times we must also learn to embrace and move forward from the tough times. This is how we grow stronger in spirit. In the times when we find this being extra challenging I suggest a change in perspective.

Unfortunately, none of us can avoid challenges or trauma from touching our lives and instead of living in the fear of when it may come knocking on your door I would like to suggest that the emotions that engulf us during this time are opportunities for our spirits to learn how certain situations affect us personally. Everyone is different and everyone reacts differently to certain things and that is perfectly fine. I am encouraging that when something deeply affects us that we embrace the emotion and learning potential of the situation. It is important to be aware and take time to recognise the lesson in every struggle, it is then that we can grow in spirit and move forward stronger.

My personal example of this was when I experienced a miscarriage a few years ago the grief consumed me. I felt the physical pain of it and it brought me to my knees. A few years previous my granny who I loved dearly passed away and although I was sad about her passing I could deal with the emotion of that grief in a more rational way. I was in a different emotional place at the time of each situation. I had never before confronted how loss would affect me. In my personal experience, I learned nothing from not embracing the feelings of grief that I should have expressed the time my granny died but when I struggled and embraced the grief I felt when I lost my pregnancy it was so hard for me to endure but I learned so much about myself and it was the first step of my spiritual journey.

“Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself... 'How did I get through all of that?”

Author unknown

Struggle is often internal, a battle with our spirit. Working through it will make us stronger of spirit and more prepared for future struggles. Each struggle brings us closer to enlightenment and when life nears its end it is enlightenment that is our greatest wealth, we cannot bring money with us but we do bring our enlightened spirit when we leave our physicality, all lesson learned.

When we struggle and learn we often do not have to endure the same lesson again ~ unless we did not embrace the learning in the first instance, in that case it may be tougher to endure a second time around. However if we embrace the opportunity to grow when it first arises rather than suppress unwanted feelings then we will be able to move forward with more ease when we encounter similar issues in our future.

I have been reading The Five Stages of the Soul by H.R Moody as research for my third novel. In this wonderfully thought provoking book it highlights that one of the important stages of the soul is The Struggle but that if embraced the next stage of the process is The Breakthrough. I believe this is significant in having faith that all will be well when we endure the hardship of a struggle. There truly is light at the end of the tunnel, all we must do is follow through and reach the tunnels end. I have endured struggles of my spirit during my life thus far and I am sure that I will endure many others but when I face them now I am more aware of the potential each struggle has to gift to me.

Have you ever heard the struggling butterfly parable?

When I first read this story through an article it clicked something within me. Something was clearer.

The story has many versions but the wisdom that there is to behold from each variation is still the same. Imagine the beauty of a butterfly as it flutters about radiantly from flower to flower bringing joy to hearts of many just by its sheer beauty and elegance. But before it reaches to the stage of becoming a butterfly it is a caterpillar who slugs along desperately munching as much as it can because it is guided in the ‘knowing’ that this is what it is supposed to do to reach its highest potential. Becoming a butterfly is the divine path for the butterfly but it must struggle through many junctures to reach that stage.

The Butterfly Story:

One day a man found a cocoon of a butterfly. A small opening appeared, he sat and he watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

So the man decided to help the butterfly, he took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small shrivelled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened!. In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shrivelled wings. I was never able to fly! What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggled required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we went through our life without any obstacles it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.

So maybe allow yourself to change your perspective on The Struggle. When you are under pressure or enduring a challenge, remember the plight of the butterfly and know that you will be a better person after you have gone through it. So often in life what seems harsh in nature is really wisdom in reality!