Rising from the Depths of Despair

When we reach points in our lives that place us in great despair, we are usually ready to listen, to have open minds.  This point of desperation is not a pleasant place to be.  Yet it is only from this level of despair and pain that we are able to discover the source of our inner power.  This is the place where self-discovery occurs.

Many of us find it difficult to even acknowledge we have reached such a lowly point in our lives.  It's difficult for us to admit when we are in pain.  It's not something we want to discuss with our friends, relatives,  and coworkers. We find this is too embarrassing to share with others. And since we have rarely, if ever, been taught to trust our inner power, we begin to sink deeper into realms of despair.

At the level of great despair, we seek answers from traditional sources -- psychologists, gurus, ministers, motivational sales-persons, and so on -- to provide us with the expected magical solutions.  We believe they know, because of their training, more about what's causing us to suffer than we do.

Some of us seek solutions in food, drinks, drugs, and other mind altering chemicals in desperate attempts to move beyond the intense pain causing us to doubt ourselves.  We are willing to do almost anything to escape from the pain, except to stop and examine how we created so much pain and suffering in our lives.  We are hesitant to begin the journey of self-discovery.

After a while, we all know who's responsible for bringing the pain into our lives.  Regardless to how we want to blame others -- society, parents, spouses, friends, and so on -- we know that there were no decisions made in our lives without us being present. At every step, every juncture in our lives, we have been there, actively participating in all the decisions.  Whether it was to buy a car, house, clothes, take a vacation, dine in an expensive restaurant or attend a musical concert, we made the decision to do it.  And, in many instances, it didn't matter whether we could afford it or not. 

Now that the decisions have wrought great havoc on us, we want to absolve, to disassociate ourselves from them.  Unfortunately, this is not the way to enlightenment.  The way to enlightenment begins with self-discovery.  To rise from the depths of despair, we must actively participate in understanding how we made the decisions that are causing us so much pain.

The decisions we make today are the ones that will help us overcome the pain we are feeling now.  If the decisions are replicas of the ones we usually make, then the results will be more pain and less clarity.  So we must take this opportunity to rise from the depths of despair by beginning the self-discovery process.