I've always advised friends going through a difficult time to use blogging, writing, running or any creative outlet and/or outdoor activity to help them "get out of their mind", when it is caught in the spiral of negative thinking, and that feeling of being overwhelmed with life.
Today, I am taking my own advice.
Waiting.
We all have to wait.
We all have different kinds of waiting.
I'm not good at waiting.
Are you?
The ironic thing about life, it throws you in situations you are not good at (repeatedly!!!!!!!!!).
Or you find yourself constantly dealing with circumstances, which leaves you feeling trapped and alone.
Very alone.
All these situations and circumstances eventually makes you learn how to cope better and come out a winner.
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| One of my treasured "Moving-In Pictures" - March, 2009 - the year we moved to the Netherlands from Germany Holland is the third country I moved to (third continent I lived in) since leaving the Philippines in 1993 |
Bravely face the painful patterns, have the courage to break it and feel confident to face the next challenge.
Simple, right? Right.
Believe it is, and it will be. I speak from experience.
The paradox: the painful patterns makes one stronger, braver, more courageous & confident.
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| Main motivation why I begun with blogging 7 years ago: actively battle the cycles of my manic-depression; stop my mind from imprisoning myself. Discovering 365 projects, in 2007 have helped me "get out" of that self-imposed prison using the creativity of blogging image from blog published: 11th of February, 2011 (midnight, minutes before the 12.02.11) |
One truly can come out of repeated painful life patterns, and come out of it a winner.
I do not mean a winner in the sense of winning competitions or being champion at sports events.
You can be of course, if that is what you want.
If that is the goal you would like to set to make you feel like a winner.
Since life will show you :
- if you set a goal,
- truly know the why behind this goal,
- commit
- and focus,
If you welcome life and all the possibilities it throws at you, you can be the winner of your goals & dreams.
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| A collage of my first ever 8K, October, 2011 TCS Amsterdam Marathon image courtesy of my running blog Happy Feet in the Netherlands |
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| My first 10M Dam tot Damloop September, 2012 image courtesy of my running blog Happy Feet in the Netherlands |
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| A favourite Before & After collage Left: My 1st Run2Day Ladies Damloop Right: My 1st 10M Dam tot Damloop image courtesy of my running blog Happy Feet in the Netherlands |
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| Marathons from 2012-2013, 2014 clockwise from the top : ING Night Marathon ran June 2013, September on the website page; invited to run 2014 Edition right: Berlin Marathon & Amsterdam Marathon September & October 2012 left: Paris Marathon April 2013 |
There is a different kind of winning, though.
Being your own silent winner.
Being your own champion.
Winning your own silent battles is in the end the most important battle you will face. The most fulfilling battle you can win.
Silent battles are battles each normal human being face.
Only not many talk, write about it...and yes, choose to "suffer in silence".
Sometimes, it seems it is the "only" choice. We discover in time, this is not true.
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| Blogging Projects... have literally awakened my mind when it starts isolating itself. image from blog published: 21st of June, 2011 |
Waiting and suffering in one's youth; waiting and suffering in one's adulthood.
In youth: waiting to finish going to school - finally be freeeeeeeeee!
Be a free adult, and live life in the way I visualise a happy life to be.
In adulthood: waiting to be able to go to school again, learn the true essentials of life - finally be free.
Be free from silent suffering adults go through.
Since you are told from childhood on, that school prepares you for adult life.
Logic follows, that there is another school, when you have become an adult.
The kind of school that will teach you, "How to Live: when you have reached that point in life, that you should *actually, already know* how to!"
Acceptance & Growth. . .
There is one last, and most important school we will ever attend in our life time, where there is only one degree to master: Growth and Acceptance.
You might ask me, "Is there such a school?!? Where, when and how can I sign up for this degree???"
I have come to call this school: Life school.
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| image courtesy of Google Images |
Where: Within you; it is in that inner fighting spirit that refuse to give up & keep on learning what life teaches
When: Now. The beginning of learning is always in the now.
How: Participate. Positively. Actively.
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| May, 2010 at Keukenhof - Holland's pride, the World's most beautiful Spring Garden |
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| June, 2013after running ING's Luxembourg's Night Marathon |
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| image courtesy of notsalmon.com |
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| image taken October, 2011 during the TCS Amsterdam Marathon Fair as I picked up my 8K starting number |
Everyone.
The important thing to note, and is worth repeating:
everyone has their own school to go, individual classes to attend fit for each individual, and the individual time period, when the search arise for such a school.
Still, we are never - I repeat, NEVER- alone in this everlasting learning process.
Never alone.
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| image courtesy of The Optimism Revolution managed by blogger Jim Willet, ultra-runner |
BEing
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| 4th of September, 2013 When not running & blogging, I stay creatively & meditatively in motion through biking @ The Lightness of Being on the Bike in late Summer |
Life School for me is about, acceptance, growth but most importantly: being.
Being authentic. Being who we truly are.
Simply being.
We can say, life learning is all about:
- loving learning,
- making the learning fun,
- plowing on when the learning gets hard,
- asking - and yes, even crying out for help when the learning gets unbearable.
Still, in the end the core is: being.
Do we ever graduate from Life School?
I often think no one graduates from Life School.
I want to believe though (the romantic in me!), that when we mastered *being*, we can be counsellors.
We counsel while we continue learning ourselves, how to...
- breathe - show ourselves with each breath, that we might think and feel we are dead but we are not
- look inside ourselves, accept and grow - the bad, the good, the ugly, the beautiful . . .
- express who we are - actively, creatively, honestly, passionately . . .
- share - I can repeat it again, and again, we are never alone, we should not feel alone...but we need to reach out...
- make a step forward - stepping forward, even in the unknown ...eliciting change because no movement means staying frozen, where we are
- go back from the start and repeat
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| 24th of September, 2013 When not running & blogging, I stay creatively & meditatively in motion through biking @ The Lightness of Being on the Bike in Autumn |
