Alchemy, in medieval times, was the art of transforming base metals into gold. In modern times, we use the term more broadly. It can be applied to any process of transmutation in which something viewed as worthless is transformed into something of great value. Some people just seem to have a knack for alchemy. They can take trash and transform it into something useful. Their talent actually derives from their willingness to see the trash in a different light.
Some people are equally talented at transforming their painful past experiences. Consider those who have “trashed” their lives through youthful transgressions and successfully transformed the experience into a positive platform for helping others pull through similar troubles. The same can be said for people who have experienced tragedy and used it to their advantage by building strength and compassion from it. In truth, there is nothing we have ever done or ever experienced that cannot be transformed into something valuable. In everything, including our mistakes, their lies the potential for great gains. The problem is that most of us overlook these opportunities because we are trying so hard to bury what is painful. In this way, we pay a high price for our resistance.
Some people are equally talented at transforming their painful past experiences. Consider those who have “trashed” their lives through youthful transgressions and successfully transformed the experience into a positive platform for helping others pull through similar troubles. The same can be said for people who have experienced tragedy and used it to their advantage by building strength and compassion from it. In truth, there is nothing we have ever done or ever experienced that cannot be transformed into something valuable. In everything, including our mistakes, their lies the potential for great gains. The problem is that most of us overlook these opportunities because we are trying so hard to bury what is painful. In this way, we pay a high price for our resistance.
When we try to bury our trash, whether it be in the literal sense or the metaphorical, it always finds its way back to us. In the case of actual trash, it creeps into the ground water and pollutes the soil when we don’t deal with it responsibly. A painful memory works the exact same way. Transgressions and tragedies haunt our dreams and manifest in our personalities in less than desirable ways when we don’t own them. By trying to bury a painful period in our past, we actually freeze it like a frame in a film. We have to allow the scene to play out in order to be free from it.
In a sense, every episode in our life is a chapter taken from our life’s story. When times get tough, we tend to end the chapter prematurely. “They take advantage of me at work. My job sucks!” End of chapter. Imagine if the story, “Cinderella” had ended like that. She would still be working as a maid for her wicked step sisters. Little girls everywhere would be stuck reading a tragedy rather than a fairy tale. If we want our lives to read more like a fairy tale instead of a tragedy, we need to develop our story past the point of conflict. The conflict is meant to lead to the climax, not the conclusion. So how do we arrive at a happy conclusion if we do not have a fairy god-mother like Cinderella’s to do our bidding? We continue to write the chapter, of course.
The thing most people do not realize is that it is totally within our capacity to write the chapters of our lives. We get to decide if a chapter is chaotic, sad, or happy. The only thing we must concede are those elements of the story that have already been set in motion. They have to play out before we can add onto to them. So if I created a negative situation with my thoughts, it will manifest, that is a chapter I have written, but what follows is a blank page. I can write it however I like.
Ask any literary teacher and they will tell you there is nothing to be learned, nothing to be gained if a story is lacking in conflict. The same is true of the Universe and all things in it; we evolve under pressure. Adversity is the steps that we must mount if we want to get to the good stuff. Therefore, we shouldn’t get hung up on the adversity that works its way into our life story. “The bigger the challenge; the bigger the opportunity.” Let that be our mantra when something disagreeable lands in our lap. The alternative is to become a victim of it, which, consequently, is the making of a tragedy.
When we lay claim to our experiences, we are in control of what follows. It is the means by which we become the authors of our lives rather than the victims of it. We begin by acknowledging our situation with objectivity: "This is my reality; now what is my next move?" We consider the possibilities and then choose the path that is most illuminated. The light we seek may be very faint at first, but a little light is all we need to get us going in the right direction, the direction of our higher-self. If we stay true to this course, the light will grow, and we will eventually find our way out of darkness, no matter what form that darkness takes.
When we lay claim to our experiences, we are in control of what follows. It is the means by which we become the authors of our lives rather than the victims of it. We begin by acknowledging our situation with objectivity: "This is my reality; now what is my next move?" We consider the possibilities and then choose the path that is most illuminated. The light we seek may be very faint at first, but a little light is all we need to get us going in the right direction, the direction of our higher-self. If we stay true to this course, the light will grow, and we will eventually find our way out of darkness, no matter what form that darkness takes.
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