Introduction
There are stories of people every day encountering circumstances in their lives that they have not been prepared for; circumstances that leave them with a sense of not knowing how to cope or where to turn.
In Hard Times/Broken People, we will feature stories of personal triumph, as
well as provide resources to help people find assistance for their particular
circumstances or needs.
Lost your job? Where to go to re-enter the job market. Resources for the Homeless; marital break-up and divorce; Recovery from Addictions; National Help Lines, and more....
Inspiration for Hard Times
Stepping outside what I think is real, I allow myself to be moved by people and ideas that are uplifting, and give me inspiration and hope. Hope is like walking from a one room apartment into a beautiful, glorious mansion. I’d like to share with you examples of overcoming hardship with positive attitudes.
I’ve been very much inspired by my Elder. I’ve come to realize so many times that my experience is based on the parameters I’ve set for myself, and the mind set with which I’ve entered into a situation.
I’ve heard stories of people who have experienced such great hardship and difficulty. They’ve been taken away from their loved ones. Sometimes they have watched their execution or seen them being driven out of their homelands, dehumanized, and demoralized. Yet, their leaders and the principals these people hold in their hearts, bring them to a place of feeling compassion, with the stillness of knowing they are not victims in their lives. They realize that in the greater picture of things, there is rhyme and reason for the experience they are undergoing. They do not feel separate from that which has created the situation. Nor do they feel powerless in the eyes of the challenge. They know that they are more than flesh and the material things of the world. They know their place in the greater scheme of things, and that they are eternal.
It is people like Jesus Christ, asking God to forgive them, for they know not what they do; Ghandi blessing the man who shot him; the Tibetans in their flight from their homelands, who showed the world a level of intelligence, heart and compassion which we contribute only to saints and sages; and the Cherokee during the Trail of Tears who recognized that life is a cycle, a cycle is a circle and everything returns to where it began. It was called the Trail of Tears not because the Cherokee people were sorrowful in their time of oppression but because the on lookers were moved to tears when they saw the suffering. All these people demonstrated a courage, strength, and dignity that is remarkable to me. In my urban upbringing I did not see such great examples of turning the other cheek. Ghandi said that if we practice the principal of an eye for an eye, you and I would both be blind, and the world would become a very dark place indeed. It takes so much more heart and courage to create peace than war.
How many times did I react instead of negotiating an outcome that would benefit everyone involved? What I do know is that these people are truly an inspiration to me, and are cut from a cloth whose fiber will hold us all together.
Utawa hi'lu’
Recovery from Addictions/Compulsive Behaviors -
What to Say or do During Times of Grieving.
Our Journey to the Sun (Death)
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