[To listen to an audio version of this blog, please click here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1396123/8877805 and to watch the video, please click here: https://youtu.be/ZQxYlvU4NCM]

What leapt to mind as your brain sought to finish that phrase? “This too shall…” For most of us, it would be “This too shall pass.”

That’s a great thought, and it can really help build resilience in the moment. But it’s not what I’ve got in mind today though… and it’s not how I want to live my life. It feels like, “this too shall pass,” means we are waiting… waiting for something better to come along to relieve us of the current distress or discomfort. I’d like to learn how to thrive in the here and now, not wait for the now and then.

Let’s add to the ‘This Too’ sayings.

Here’s my additional ‘This Too’ saying, “This too shall serve me.”

One of my sons has had a tough, few years. I remember his confusion and pain as, having been ‘let go’ from one position, (illegally, I might add), he could not find acceptance from another employer for over a year. The torment dragged on and on, but in the meantime, he pursued his passion for learning through academic studies. Eventually he found employment, then Covid hit. The resulting furlough gave him more time for his passion – paid time for his passion - more study. Then he was ‘let go’ again. Now, he’s doing a job that fits his strengths – that gives him purpose - and he’s engaging in even more study. The difficult time did pass but, on reflection, it also served him well. Add in the bonus of quality time with his young, growing family and you have to wonder whether it was a ‘bad’ time after all.

If he’d had the luxury of seeing his times of trial from his current position of prosperity, he would have breathed a sigh of relief… and would have been able to say with confidence, “This too shall pass.” But he would also have been able to say, “This too shall serve me.”

OK, let’s dispense with the naivety. Sometimes Life utterly crushes us and we don’t come out better on the ‘other side’ of the challenges. I’m not talking about those times. I’m talking about the majority of times where we do come through the hassle and we can look back with a perspective enriched by more information, more experience, and, crucially, an awareness of how we’ve used the difficult time to our advantage – we’ve made it serve us.

Today’s message is no more than this: to boldly assert in the face of difficult circumstances, “This, too, shall serve me.”

When we do this, we leave space for a shift in perception. Our awareness will begin to lock on to any evidence that the setback or suffering could serve us in the longer term. We make it work for us.

What I’d love to know is about the times in your own life when a setback turned into a strength – even a springboard or a stepping stone, when a stumbling block became a blessing.

Where you, too, could say…

“This, too, has served me.”

Lex

A Moodscope member.