It is beautiful. The big picture of life is beautiful, even if you can’t see it. Or maybe you choose not to see it. There seems to be a lot of that going around these days. But if that’s the case, well you should at least try to do some stuff that you and others would be proud of.
The big picture of life is beautiful. But life is a struggle. There are real challenges. There are lots of ugly sides of life. If you were just counting up all the various parts of life, there are probably more individual ugly parts then there are beautiful parts of life. But something happens when it all comes together. I don’t believe in miracles, but I do believe that when it all comes together, for some reason there’s an extra bit of, um, magic, I guess, that ties things together in life that makes it all right. Better than alright, awesome.
Yes life is a struggle. For some, the struggle is more intense than for others. I mention my struggles. It’s therapeutic to talk about my struggles. But I can’t do that without recognizing that I’m sure I have it a little easier than a lot of people. And sure, I can’t even really imagine how hard life can be (but I hear about how hard people’s lives are all the time).
But what’s interesting about struggles and challenges in life is that they are pretty common. Some really truly awful things are done in this world. And over the course of history, I’ll bet that the absolute worst things that can be done, have been done. And the poor souls on the receiving end of those bad things got thru it somehow, and they serve as examples of how people overcame bad things with success. So if they can do it, so can anyone.
Some of the people who carry out the awful things are just irreparably evil. They’ll probably never be able to atone for the bad stuff they’ve done. But I think most awful things are carried out in fits of rage, where the perpetrator probably should have just taken a nap, or sat down and counted to 10 and thought a bit harder about what he or she was about to do.
Cuz you know, I think it’s probably a feat of life to just live a long time. Just living into your 70’s is an accomplishment. It means you died of natural causes, and not as a result of violent or reckless behavior. You should be able to do that by just staying out of trouble.
Don’t get me wrong. Bad things happen. There are 7 billion people on this planet, and some of em make bad decisions. And some are just evil. So really heinous and disgusting crimes unfortunately happen. And the people that carry out those actions deserve severe punishment. Genocide and murders … it’s undeniable that the victims in those situations are truly helpless (they’re dead already). Rapes and kidnappings … again, very difficult to argue that the victims could have avoided these situations. [this post is getting real heavy all of a sudden – positivity not to far off now – life is beautiful – trust me]. If you were born into truly hopeless situations, then yes what I’m about to say probably doesn’t apply to you.
But, except for a few cases, if you were born in America, then you have got to realize that no matter how bad you think your life is, you can rest assured it could be a whole lot worse. You could be “living” in Syria, Venezuela, or North Korea with very little control over your destiny. Or maybe you were born with a significant disability. Once you’re old enough to feel some control over your life, I don’t know maybe at age 12 or 13, take it. Take control of your life and start to make it better. If you live in a bad part of town, and you have to deal with bullies, then just find a way to get out. Work really really hard at it. Take advantage of whatever free programs exist to get training or any other kind of help you might need. Maybe you are facing an immediate and intense challenge, and feeling physically threatened by those bullies. That sucks and there’s no easy way out of that situation, but do whatever you can to enhance the bright side. Hone in on what you might call “excitement” of the situation. Envision yourself as Luke Cage or James Bond, using your cunning and skill to narrowly escape the bad guys. Maybe the skill is to endure a risky situation … bravely, but carefully, put yourself in harms way. Think of all the examples of people that have gone from rags to riches. If they can do it, anyone can do it.
A quote that comes to mind is from Christopher Reeve (aka Superman). Years after suffering an ultimately life-ending spinal injury but still keeping a superhero’s busy schedule, Reeve said “Some people are walking around with full use of their bodies, and they’re more paralyzed than I am”. In other words, quit making excuses for your self. Get over your fears, and just do it.
If you’re able to, take control of your life and make it better. Continually. For the rest of your life. Work really hard at it. Then really good things will start to happen … recognition from important people in your life; thanks; appreciation; financial results; stability, etc. And eventually, the sky could be the only limit to the beautiful parts of your life.
Life is a big abstract painting. It’s beautiful in its entirety, because why shouldn’t it be. Even though there are some splotchy piles of crap here and there, with the right amount of effort the good will balance out, and rise above the bad.