The messy part

Sometimes life is messy...

Wait, who am I kidding? It is quite often messy, just most of us don't show that messy side. Wanting to appear polished and perfect, not revealing the ugly blemishes that are hidden beneath our scars.

Life is a constant concoction of complicated and amazing, hopelessness and joy, bereavement and growth, oh so much growth!

I read the quote in bold at Jameysons blog and cried, not that I was having a particularly troublesome day, in fact I wasn't. But it reminded me of something said to me many times about how strong I am after all I've been through. Although I appreciate the words and the strength I may show others, most of my heartache has not been a matter of choice. And many times I question the lessons since I have never deliberately hurt anyone or tried in malice to destroy anything. Heartbreaking things happen everyday which we have the opportunity to learn from. Certainly the trauma in life most times is not by choice... 

But those things, those horrible, heartbreaking circumstances leave one with two choices, be broken or learn and keep going.

Life is unpredictable and often harsh, but whatever life throws us, we can handle it, if we just try to be a little better each day than we were the day before.

So much of life emerges when you are grateful for what you have. Saying thank you for the bad stuff, like Maya Angelou, because once you get through the horrendous, there will be a rainbow of gifts, lessons  learned which will change you, making a whole being, a more giving and graceful being. One with compassion that can give back to others.

So while its good to be strong, it is even better to learn from the lessons and be grateful for the heartache that forms you into someone you never knew existed.