Caterpillars to Butterflies

As hard as everything seems now, remember that this is the opportunity of a lifetime. This is our chance to reinvent ourselves.  We have survived the bullshit of the past and we’ve made a clean break from it! Remember, 

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” -Richard Bach

We’ve been caterpillars all this time! And in our heads we’re still crying out “the world is ending!” But we have to trust that we’re almost at the butterfly stage. You’re a pretty damn wonderful caterpillar, so what a beautiful butterfly I know you’ll be! 

Death shall have no dominion

And Death Shall Have No Dominion
BY DYLAN THOMAS

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

I’m not in a good place at the moment. I probably fit nicely into the “mad and dead as nails” category Thomas mentions. But death has not conquered me yet. And though we all lose loved ones through death, death cannot take love from us. Our love is our legacy.

Only through struggle can we develop strength

Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.

– Bruce Lee

I agree and disagree with Lee’s statement. I believe it is better to have had a difficult life but to have the strength to endure it than to have an easy life. When someone knows struggle, they will appreciate the wonder of an easy day so much more than someone whose life has been a succession of easy days.

Where I disagree with Lee is that he suggests that we should pray for strength. We don’t need to pray for strength because for every day we struggle, we grow a little stronger. Struggle is nature’s way of strengthening us. Because we suffer, we are strong. Because we are strong, we endure. And because we endure, we will one day know an easy day.

Kindness can heal

A heart that reaches out with love can heal a soul and change a life. There are a lot of kind people in the world.Their acts of kindness, however small they may be, brighten days and fill us with joy – even just for a moment.

And one moment of joy in a depressed person’s life is worth more than any material object. Imagine the feeling of looking into someone’s eyes and being able to see that you made their day. Imagine how good it would feel.

Some days it’s hard to be kind. But just remember: a hug, a smile or simply being there for someone can be counted as a kind deed too.

Mark Twain says it best on the subject of kindness:

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

The best ways to cheer yourself up is to try and cheer someone else up.

Be kind to strangers. Be kind to friends. Be kind to animals. And reap the rewards.

If the animals can do it, we can too:

Because I could not stop for death

One of the most inspirational lines of poetry I have ever read is one by Emily Dickinson:

Because I could not stop for death.

There is such a feeling of triumph in this line. Dickinson is determined to live her life to the fullest. Suicide is not an option for her. We each get only one life: it is worth fighting for. We cannot allow ourselves to stop for death before it naturally arrives.

Death will come anyway, as it finally does in Dickinson’s poem.But before death stops for us, let’s try to savour everything life has to offer. Family. Friendship. Love. Children. Beauty. Old age. Nature. Laughter. Even joy. Until we’ve had the chance to enjoy all these things, we cannot stop for death.

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

Or rather, he passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then ’tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.

Heroes are those who have known suffering and persevere

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

Anyone who has known suffering and kept striving to not let it consume them is a hero in my eyes.

Some days are worse than others. Just remember you are an ordinary person fighting extraordinary circumstances. You are so much stronger than you even know.

Our rainbow will come

Wise words from Dolly Parton, a lady who has battled with and defeated the black dog of depression.
“If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” There is so much truth in this simple statement. Look at most successful people in the world. They’re happy now, right? But you can bet that they weren’t always like that. They worked hard to defeat the demons in their life that were holding them back from the success that would come to be theirs.
“Demons” come in all shapes and sizes – in the form of an unsupportive family, an abusive partner, a habit, a seemingly endless pile of paperwork, mental illness… the list is endless. Everyone has their demons – and sure some have lesser demons than others – but how would we recognise the good times if we didn’t know struggle? How would we see the rainbow if we hadn’t endured the rain?

The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.
– John Vance Cheney

And the great thing about rainbows is that they shine a lot brighter for those of us who have known pain a little to intimately.

Tom Petty can heal the soul

Well I won’t back down, no I won’t back down
You could stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won’t back down

Gonna stand my ground, won’t be turned around
And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down
Gonna stand my ground and I won’t back down

This song has been a  favorite of mine for a long time now. With music so uplifting and lyrics so inspiring, I always feel a little better after listening to it. This should be the theme song for all those suffering in our world. So many are standing ”at the gates of hell” but with strength and courage they manage to persevere! When I’m in doubt, this song reminds me that perseverance is a virtue – something to be celebrated.

 

Don’t Quit

My aunt had a long hard battle with terminal illness, and yet she managed to battle with a smile. To me at least she was the kindest, sweetest, funniest aunt a girl could wish for. Seven years after her death her smile is still ingrained in my memory. She is an inspiration to me to this day. She had a love for fridge magnets with deep meaning, and one I remember vividly had the poem ”Don’t Quit” on it. I still know it word for word. I was reminded of it recently when I spotted a street artist writing it out in chalk.

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

– Edgar A. Guest