In my recent blog, “Gratitude for the Pain,” I wrote that all of life’s challenges have hidden messages and provide opportunities to be grateful for how these challenges actually support our growth. In response, one of my readers sent me a note and shared that several people in his life are dealing with incredible tragedy or illness. He said it was therapeutic for him to think of these circumstances as having deeper meaning.
But, I know that looking for deeper meaning is not always comforting when we witness others enduring more than one could imagine. I see it in my practice every day—people struggling to make sense of the health, relationship, or work challenges we all face. Some of these challenges are easier to navigate than others, but no human escapes.
It can be hard to avoid getting sucked into drama, especially when it comes to relationships. Sometimes our emotions are triggered and we want to reach out and help with meals, transportation, babysitting, even fundraising. Sometimes our hearts are truly broken when we learn of the tremendous loss someone is going through, whether it be a friend or on a global scale.
Yet what I’ve experienced personally and what I’ve seen in so many of my clients is that there is a way to learn from hardship and even a way to let it support our evolution.
It’s natural to be pulled into sadness, anger, and despair, but these same emotions can be an impetus for healing and change. They force us, if we allow them expression, to dig deep into our inner resources and do what we can to be of service, to offer a helping hand, be a listening ear, even mobilize people and initiate change in the world.
But there’s a catch.
The very act of digging deep into those inner resources can lead to us depleting them. If we’re not careful, we can have every intention of helping but may actually end up responding from a place of sadness, anger, or despair. These “low vibration” emotions quickly feed on one another and can end up creating more of the same.
So what is the key to allowing a life challenge to lift ourselves and others?
The secret is in the state of our vibration. Think of a tuning fork; it produces a fixed, pure tone that voices or instruments around it are able to match, resulting in a beautiful, sonorous pitch.
In the same way, when we lift our vibration, it will lift the vibration of those around us.
We do this by taking care of ourselves, seeking healing methods that provide comfort and support our evolution. and by practicing presence and neutrality. In Paul Selig’s channeled text, The Book of Mastery, one of his students asks if there is anything else he needs to do to bring about change besides speak affirmations and acknowledge the Divine in others. The response is an emphatic “Be, be, be.” In other words, as we acknowledge and express our own Divine selves, we raise our frequency in a way that will support all areas of our lives and the lives of others. It isn’t about doing. It is about being.
From this higher state of being, we can experience greater compassion. This is the quality that reminds us in times of trouble that we are not alone. It motivates us to reach out and be of service to others.
And it is a beautiful reminder that in the end, we are all one.
