There was an idea that I heard the other night.
The idea is to smile in the face of adversity. Imagine that. To smile at the face of an otherwise enemy – to breathe regardless of the things that would otherwise leave you breathless.
I say this is an amazing quality to have.
I say to have this ability is more than heroic. I say this is almost a superpower – to smile in the face of hatred or outrage; or to smile regardless of the unhappy or the ugly features of an enemy or to smile at a life less desired. But more, to smile as an action instead of retaliation or a means of response.
So rather than smile as a means to respond, this is an occasion to smile because instead of responding or allowing adversity to define, dictate or determine our life – we smile because we understand that this is only part of life. In some cases, life is filled with tricks and smoke and mirrors.
Our trick is to not allow this to deter or to distract us from our path.
I know full and well that adversity comes with many faces. Each one can be two-sided or two-faced and each side has something to say.
Believe it!
I know that there are people whose main focus is either revenge or retribution. And sure, there are times when the world allows karma to come full circle. There are times when we all face a justice, either on our side or against us and there are times when we have to face who we are. We have to face what we do, how we act, behave or as one of my most favorite people in this world (Professor of all professors or angel of all angels in my life) and as she likes to tell me – we have to fess up when we mess up.
Okay. Fine.
I understand this. I also understand that apologies can only go so far. I understand that whether we are sorry or not or whether we are wholehearted and have true sorrow for a sin or a mistake can often be irrelevant. There is another world outside the television set which I call our eyes and our point of view.
There is so much more in the world than our version of life – and it’s true. We cannot control what happens outside of ourselves. We cannot hold ourselves accountable for the apologies that are unaccepted or returned to the sender.
We cannot control other people, how they think or feel, regardless of how we try to influence or sway their opinion. No, life is not going to agree with us nor are we going to agree with life as it happens.
But none of that matters. None of this makes a difference.
I am a fan of the discipline which comes from a movie character, Rocky Balboa:
It ain’t about how hard you’re hit, it’s about how you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.
I love this discipline.
This is true. It is also true to say that yes, it is easy to smile or laugh when all is well and everyone is on our side or agrees with us.
At the same time, it is easy to sneer or to grit our teeth or scream and yell, and fight and argue.
But, to smile in the face of adversity – to grin at danger and to remove the intimidation and the emotional sidetracks that disrupt or disturb us is more than a trick –
This is a superpower, beyond belief.
I know that times can be hard. I also know that times can be seasonal, like the way we are in the summertime or the way we feel when the sun goes down earlier in winter.
I know there are times for rebirth and times when life goes through its own version of autumn; and I mean this as in when the trees let go of their leaves and become nothing but empty and bare.
I know that it is hard to find warmth when the world seems like a cold place. Just like winter, we have to bundle up sometimes because the frost of life is enough to freeze the heart or emotionally, we can die from the frost of personal hypothermia – and sure, it gets cold around here in purgatory.
Absolutely.
But there is warmth to be found. And I’m not saying this is easy.
I am only saying that even in the absence of heat, there is warmth to be found.
Sometimes, we have to dig down deep into our hearts. Sometimes, we have to look really hard. And sometimes, we have to search really hard. But if we do this and so long as we search instead of surrender, we can create enough heat beneath our skin to churn the flames for one more day. As a matter of fact, sometimes one more day is enough to turn the corner and say, “good morning, Fate. I think I have something I’d like to say to you!”
Then we smile . . . because at last, we found our superpower to get us through the day.
At last, we found a way to make us one step closer to that smile that refuses to fade.
I found a ticket from a show in the pocket of my jeans . . .
It was a show in the City.
I saw butterflies there (remember?)
This is even better than finding loose change – if you ask me, finding a reminder like this is better than finding gold or diamonds or anything so rare, like a feather from a bird in my dreams which was never real, but still – this feather exists, even if only in my heart, which to me –
That’s what makes this real.
Get it?
The Written Addiction 