When we look up the mountain and feel disheartened by how far we have to go,
we should try to remember to look down and see how far we've come.
I first remember this thought coming to me in these words many years ago, but usually only remember it when talking to someone else who is discouraged about something in particular.
It puts me in mind of climbing 'Dent', the hill which overlooked the small town where my dad grew up. When we made our magical first family visit, we were taken on a Sunday afternoon outing to 'climb', or rather stroll up Dent, as it was known locally.
Well what a disappointment; what looked beautiful from afar was boring and endless in reality. Every time we reached one hilltop, it was to find another stretched above! We certainly didn't make the summit that day and I never have. (Will I before I die? I really don't know. My cousins have done it probably many times but they live there.)
Life does seem to be like that at times; one endless summit after another. When we feel downhearted about our failings and failures, we need a friend who will lift our our spirits by saying, "but look at what you have achieved in ..............". This can make all the difference and can help us to look at things in a different way, far more positively.
So, in moments of discouragement, we should try to do this for ourselves and we should also remember that sometimes there really is a summit that we can reach and an amazing view that makes the climb worth all the effort.
Tuesday 28 October 2014
About endings and new beginnings
Sometimes it seems
that something has to die
before something new
can be born in its place.
This seems so sad but it does seem to be true.
In one of David Attenborough's amazing wildlife series, the total destruction brought about by forest fires was actually shown to be nature's way of purging and purifying the land so that new and better growth could occur.
I remember being very struck by that.
A book I read some years ago described how the troubles in Liverpool between Catholics and Protestants, which were at one time very similar to those in N. Ireland, were never the same after the Second World War, perhaps because the bombs had fallen on everyone irrespective of their religion and everyone had suffered together. How strange that from the horror and devastation of war can come new and better ways of life.
It does actually help me to see that from the tragedies and seeming failures of life, I can often look back and realise that new and better things have come. I do wonder though why it has to be that way. Why do we never seem to learn except by the hard way? Perhaps that's just the way we humans are.
May all of us find the courage to hang on in there through the bad times, always believing that all things pass and that good will always defeat evil, however long it takes.
that something has to die
before something new
can be born in its place.
This seems so sad but it does seem to be true.
In one of David Attenborough's amazing wildlife series, the total destruction brought about by forest fires was actually shown to be nature's way of purging and purifying the land so that new and better growth could occur.
I remember being very struck by that.
A book I read some years ago described how the troubles in Liverpool between Catholics and Protestants, which were at one time very similar to those in N. Ireland, were never the same after the Second World War, perhaps because the bombs had fallen on everyone irrespective of their religion and everyone had suffered together. How strange that from the horror and devastation of war can come new and better ways of life.
It does actually help me to see that from the tragedies and seeming failures of life, I can often look back and realise that new and better things have come. I do wonder though why it has to be that way. Why do we never seem to learn except by the hard way? Perhaps that's just the way we humans are.
May all of us find the courage to hang on in there through the bad times, always believing that all things pass and that good will always defeat evil, however long it takes.
Friday 3 October 2014
About making mistakes
My patience in persevering with the television series "The Paradise" paid off in one particular respect. It was to hear this line more than once; "Let us not dwell on our mistakes; let us learn from them". I know that this is not the most original statement ever made but for some reason or other it resonated with me at that time.
To be human is to make mistakes; to dwell on them is is not only fruitless but destructive, leading, as it does so easily, to feelings of inadequacy, despondency and the like. To acknowledge, accept and learn from our failures is to turn the negative into the positive, an opportunity for growth.
This is all very well in theory of course, but the reality, in my case and maybe for others too, is that I still react very badly to making mistakes because I have this irrational fear of being 'told off'; no doubt a throw-back from childhood. I like to hope/think I'm not alone in this but I can always hope that occasionally I may remember the advice!
(PS Another scrap of paper bites the dust! Yesss!)
To be human is to make mistakes; to dwell on them is is not only fruitless but destructive, leading, as it does so easily, to feelings of inadequacy, despondency and the like. To acknowledge, accept and learn from our failures is to turn the negative into the positive, an opportunity for growth.
This is all very well in theory of course, but the reality, in my case and maybe for others too, is that I still react very badly to making mistakes because I have this irrational fear of being 'told off'; no doubt a throw-back from childhood. I like to hope/think I'm not alone in this but I can always hope that occasionally I may remember the advice!
(PS Another scrap of paper bites the dust! Yesss!)
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