Salve for the Sting

July 21 The sting of a bee or the bitter taste of a medicinal cure are not enjoyable in the traditional sense of being full of joy—but they often become the very things you’re thankful for later, for getting you to where you are now.

Would it be possible for you to realize the very gift that the pain you may be experiencing is actually what will propel you to where you want to be? To shoo you out of the nest of comfort and complacency?

Look at the experience—although bringing you pain felt within your body and psyche—as the impetus that is getting you where you truly want to be. Thank it for its gift, even in the despair you may be experiencing. Know that all is for you, not to you. It is the jolt that initiates movement, the catalyst in your equation.

Then, you may endure it with a bit of gratitude. Turn your gaze away from the pain and look toward what the change may bring—the unknown, the horizon.

There is a gift—or many—still pulsing on your path, awaiting your arrival. You will feel the joy of love, of delight again—in fact, in direct ratio to the depth of your despair. Knowing that may be the salve for the sting. The contrast of disappointment will be met with the sunshine of contentment.

It is all good. Know this, in all things.

Reorient yourself to the light on your path. Shake off the shadows of guilt, shame, and pain. Stretch into the new, the now, the gift of today.

You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.