Circumstances

Circumstances can kick a person in the gut incredibly hard. The thing is, it’s sometimes impossible to know whether circumstances are simply taunting you or, instead, are attempting to prepare you for a merciless beating that will leave you bruised, broken, bloodied, and screaming for the pain to cease. Either way, though, the gut punch takes one’s breath away and instantly re-frames the world as one knew it until that moment.

Those moments, those ferocious gut punches, reveal far more about one’s humanity than anything else could. And when those revelations expose flaws much, much deeper than surface blemishes, a person can’t help but question his value; his worth as a human being comes into question.

Nothing can quickly “fix” the images that fill one’s mind after a series of gut punches illustrate them in vivid color. Soul-searching is the only tool available to heal the wound, if indeed it can be repaired. And soul-searching takes a lot of time.

About John Swinburn

"Love not what you are but what you may become."― Miguel de Cervantes
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3 Responses to Circumstances

  1. Jim says:

    Please let us know if there is anything we can do. Know that we are here.

  2. Dave Legan says:

    “Soul searching takes a lot of time.” Yes, it takes a lifetime. I know no enlightened people who are not constantly introspective. As an example, I spent several years struggling with religion before settling on atheism. I don’t talk about it for two reasons. First, why upset folks? Second, if challenged i can refute the arguments so thoroughly that my opponent either collapses in disgrace or starts calling me names. No in between. So, I leave it be. EXCEPT, when my “discussion partner” begins to question my sincerity or thought process. I’ve told several of these folks: Count on this, everyone who chooses this belief system loses MUCH MORE than they gain. They lose the ability to pray…now unable to ask the sky for help. They lose the support systems which, in my opinion are the most tangible good parts of churches. They lose friends. But, far more important, they lose a belief system they were taught since kindergarten. Who could choose to sacrifice those things without introspecting their living ass off?

    Everyone fights their own battles…everyone gets their share of gut punches.. They differ not in their introspection, but in the quality of it. MOST folks will, after thinking it through, decide that someone else is to blame. THEY are not responsible…they are victims…it’s out of their control. And that’s the problem. Relinquish control, and you give up the ability to avoid it next time. Avoiding the next gut punch is the ONLY reason to suffer the first one. Given time and internal honesty, one eventually gets to the edge of that universe. There’ll be more…we know that. But we now know that we will prevail. The greatest lesson of life, to me, is: We heal.

  3. Colleen Boardman says:

    Hang in there, John. You are loved.

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