There are times when life just doesn't go right. You struggle to keep it together but end up disap­pointed, hurt, angry, and depressed — an irrational mess. These are the days when you're so overwhelmed that you feel discouraged and beaten down, ready to give up.

Yet what if there were a reason that problems keep showing up? It could be that all the hurt, pain, and failure is actually there to help you; perhaps your frustration, sadness, and anger can be used to build an amazing life of happiness and joy. This isn't some woo-woo pseudo philosophy. This is science, baby.

Everything Is Either Going Forward or Moving Back

The second law of thermodynamics, or the law of entropy, describes how chaos naturally increases in anything until some outside energy is applied to reverse the process. In nature there is no standing still. Everything is either growing or dying, going forward or moving back.

People are the same way. Unless we are actively working on developing ourselves, applying energy to our lives, we gradually diminish and lose our skills. If we stay in our comfort zone and stop moving forward, then we have introduced the law of entropy into our lives. We're not growing; we're dying.

Under Great Pressure, Organisms Reorder Themselves & Evolve

However, when Nobel Prize-winning scientist Ilya Prigogine was studying this phenomenon, he discov­ered something amazing. If you put a normal organ­ism or compound in a closed environment and pass a small amount of energy into it, the energy will pass out again. Energy in, energy out, simple enough. As more and more energy is added, though, pressure builds, and the organism begins to overload. In other words, it becomes aggravated and irritated. This is the state of perturbation.

I'm guessing that you might know what it feels like to be perturbed. By increasing the amount of energy and pressure, the organism shifts into chaos until it reaches a point at which it seems unable to handle any more. At the point of maximum overload, systems begin to fail; they start to decay and turn toward entropy — again, no big discovery.

But what Dr. Prigogine observed, and why he won the Nobel Prize, is that under the right conditions, something spectacular happens. Things do not fall apart; they do not blow up; they do not end in chaos. Instead, the organism will actually reorder itself, and it will evolve into a more complex structure.

Using the Pressure & Chaos of Our Lives to Move to a Higher Level

We can do the same thing. We can take the pressure and chaos of our lives and use it to move to a higher level. This is why some cancer patients will say — despite the horror and terror that is cancer, chemotherapy, and radiation — that it was the best thing that ever hap­pened to them.

They now live every day to the full­est, because they took that overwhelming chaos and reordered themselves to the next level. They had the option to become bitter and hostile toward life, but instead they chose to grow emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

If things aren't going the way you want in your life, well maybe that's the point. The challenges and problems are showing up because you are ready to move to the next level.

The Universe has composed a symphony of circumstances and situ­ations so that you may grow emotionally, mentally, and spiritually — if you choose. The Universe will pro­vide you with the right pressure and stress for you to reorder yourself and move to a higher level.

Finding an Anchor in the Storm

But . . . this will only happen under the right con­ditions. The right conditions exist when you support yourself mentally and emotionally in a healthy, posi­tive, and enlightened manner. It is only when your thinking and mental programming can anchor you in any storm that you will be able to reach the next level.

You see, your depression, anger, limiting beliefs, unwanted emotions, outdated programs, conflicts, frustrations, and stress are keeping you from being something very important: resourceful.

"Resourceful: once again, full of source." Nowa­days, "source" is defined as "where all things origi­nate." But this wasn't the definition long ago. A mentor of mine, Jim Britt, the author of Rings of Truth, discovered the true definition in a five hun­dred-year-old dictionary at a London antiques store.

In that dictionary, "source" was defined by one word: love. So the real definition of "resourceful" is: "once again full of love, where all things originate." Change can only occur if you are in a resourceful environ­ment on the inside, if you are full of love. But if you are holding on to old anger, sorrow, and negative beliefs, you cannot move to the next level.

Creating Diamonds from the Coals of Your Life

It was Albert Einstein who said, "You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew." In other words, you cannot create your new life with the same mindset that created the life you have now. As Wayne Dyer so aptly put it, "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change."

Within you right now are all the raw materials required for you to create extraordinary diamonds from the coal in your life. You can live in peace and happiness, but you have got to stop walking the path of fear and struggle. You must choose to become resourceful — once again full of love.

So here is your work. You need to find some way to remove your stuck emotions. By resourcefully allowing the pressure and stress in your life to break through to the other side, you will reorder your life and you will shine, giving a whole new meaning to: "What doesn't kill me will make me stronger" — as strong as diamonds.

©2012 by Jack Canfield, Marci Shimoff, et al. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Hierophant Publishing.
Dist. by Red Wheel/Weiser, Inc. www.redwheelweiser.com

Article Source

Pearls of Wisdom: 30 Inspirational Ideas to Live your Best Life Now!
by Jack Canfield, Marci Shimoff, and many more.

An oyster can't produce a pearl without first suffering from a grain of sand. Pearls of Wisdom is the instruction manual for how to turn your own grains of sand into luminous, magnificent pearls. The numerous authors in this book offer an eclectic mix of suggestions for transforming your life immediately.

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About the Author

CRAIG MERIWETHER struggled with depression for more than twenty-five years. Then he discovered how to turn that intense emotional pain into "diamonds." He teaches his insights and ideas for awakening to real happiness and creating diamonds through a free online video course at his website www.CraigInRealLife.com. Craig is also the creator of the breakthrough program "Depression 180 — Turn It Around: How to End Depres­sion, Anxiety, Self-Hatred, and Create Lasting Happiness!" You can learn more about it at www.Depression180.com

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