Sometimes in life we have no strength to go on. We are tired. We are exhausted from the battles we are fighting within ourselves day after day after day. We are wounded. We are hurting. Our strength is ebbing away.

It’s as if we have somehow ended up on the rocks of life and we have fallen out of the boat of everything that once held us. We are now caught up in these ferocious waves that are determined to batter and destroy us. Wave after wave comes trying to draw us nearer to the rocks of doom which threaten to take our life. Once we had the strength to try and swim in the opposite direction. However, now we are barely able to stay afloat and we are tempted to allow ourselves to be carried to whatever fate has ordained for us.

Yet it is at these times that there is always a voice within us telling us that this too will pass and that the waves will subside and that one day the same waters that are battering us now will be still, clear and balmy to swim in. We just need to hold on.

But what can we hold onto out here in these ferocious seas? The truth that within us lies a hero or heroine who has the strength to carry on. It will be in years to come as we sit contentedly upon a sandy beach watching the sunlight play over the sea that we will recall with horror how close we came to missing this very special and precious time in our life.

We will see clearly then that we were living through a bitter winter when it appeared that everything in our life was dead or dying. We thought it was the end and yet in truth it was the season that would prepare us for the spring to come. We couldn't see this truth for we were frozen.

Yet sitting here now once more, the us we truly are will recognise this truth, that that winter transformed us from a smaller version of ourself into a larger one. It enabled us to grow in strength and compassion and wisdom and truth. It enabled us to see qualities in ourself like perseverance and courage and bravery and resilience which we could never have discovered in any other way. It enabled us to see the hardships and difficulties in other’s lives that we had been blind to as we rode on the high horses on the carousel. We had assumed that we had done something right to be riding high and feeling good and had assumed that others must have made poor choices to be so low. Yet we had not understood that we were on a carousel riding the merry go round of life and that eventually everyone has some disaster or tragedy that means our once proud high horse becomes as low as it can possibly get. We feel it must be us and that we are weak or so insignificant that we are unable to prevent it from happening and that others must be looking at us with either pity or contempt. We cannot see that they too will one day be facing their winter and that we will be able to help them get through it and out the other side.

In the middle of winter you never think it's going to end, but it will and it does. Look at the seasons. Nothing lasts forever. You will get through the worst it can throw at you and one day look back and recall your strength and fortitude.

When you eventually die when your time is right, you will look back and wonder how you got through that most deadly of winters. Yet you will also celebrate the fact that you were able to find the courage needed. You will never forget its cold biting winds and how you nearly froze to death. However, you will also be able to see and rejoice in the abundance of new life that eventually emerged from that time and all you enjoyed in the spring and summer that followed.

So today look not at the size of the waves or your inability to cope. A hero lies within you who you can hold onto and know that someway and somehow you will find that ability to get through the next wave that tries to overwhelm you. You will keep your head above water and a ship will come soon to rescue you.

And then this time of unbearable loss and grief and sadness and despair will be over and gradually, day by day and week by week you will begin to rebuild your life until the darkness of that time has been obliterated by the light that now guides you and takes care of you and walks with you.

 

You can get through this. Believe me for it is truth.

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Song - The Hero Within by Mariah Carey /Walter Afanasieff 

There's a hero
If you look inside your heart
You don't have to be afraid
Of what you are
There's an answer
If you reach into your soul
And the sorrow that you know
Will melt away

And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you

 

It's a long road
When you face the world alone
No one reaches out a hand
For you to hold
You can find love
If you search within yourself
And that emptiness you felt will disappear

And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you,

Lord knows dreams are hard to follow
But don't let anyone
Tear them away, hey yeah
Hold on, there will be a tomorrow
In time you'll find the way

And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth

That a hero lies in you