Sharing with others daily words, thoughts and meditations that bring myself hope and renewal during my own daily battles and frustrations with COPD/Asthma.  Sharing, because as we all know – without that horizon of hope, our daily renewal of faith and fight can dim in a hurry.

Take, read, meditate and hopefully find some of the same hope in your daily battles with a chronic illness and/or disability as I have within mine….

The Word – “There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilitized as a source of strength.’ No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful the experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.”  (Dalai Lama)

The Thought – I was thinking of these word of wisdom from the Dalai Lama this morning as it was being revealed to me that a family I know and used to work with, were dealing with the loss of their youngest son who was met his death in a motorcycle accident just 10-days before his high school graduation and seven-weeks from joining the military.

No parent or family should ever have to go through such a tragedy without the support of the tribe that surrounds them in their travels of life.

The idea that tragedy should utilize itself as a source of strength can be very confusing to those going through the hurt, pain and suffering that a tragedy can bring.

Just as with this family, those of us who walk life with those daily battles of a chronic illness and/or disability, we need to keep our hope within sight no matter what the situation is at hand in the moment.

Do you remember the day you discovered, realized or were told that you had a chronic illness and/or disability?  Do you remember the hopelessness you felt at the moment, the sense of termination of your life as you knew it?  That feeling of hopelessness, loss, worry, hurt was much the same as the parents of the young man who died much too soon while doing something he loved – riding his motorcycle.

With the help of our times of meditation/prayer with the ‘Great Spirits’ we can find that strength and determination to walk through it – just as these parents are going to have to do.  Our life, their life, will carry on and we must make the best of it and much of that moving forward comes from those four fundamentals of life and happiness, with the first one being HOPE!

Hope is an optimistic attitude or belief that is based on the expectation that positive outcomes lay ahead for one’s moments, days, months, years ahead.

While these parents will be moving forward trying hard to hold on to those precious memories of their son, to share with those around them such as his siblings, his nieces and nephews, his extended family and all the friends who walked alongside him – they will also find a cause, a positive idea to work with to overcome their grief and keep alive their hope.

So it is with us who fight the daily battles of chronic illness and/or disability, as we look to work each day to overcome the battles and with the help of our visits with the ‘Great Spirits’, we will also move forward with a positive plan to control our chronic illness and/or disability as best we can while being a mentor to others who are doing the same, while keeping alive that hope that this too will not beat us down as we travel life with those four fundamentals of strength – hope, faith, love and grace.

The Meditation/Prayer – We come to our time of meditation/prayer and ask you ‘Great Spirits’ to cover this family that is hurting with a shield of protection, guidance and wisdom so that they may find the hope in tomorrow through the hurts of today.  ‘Great Spirits’ we directly thank you for all wonders that you surround us with as we walk this path of life, may we cherish each and every moment that we have.  Let us remember that our quiet talks with you, ‘Great Spirits’, are those moments when we find the guidance and wisdom to continue moving forward holding tight to the four fundamentals of life and happiness – hope, faith, love and grace, knowing that for today the most important one is hope, hope for their future and hope for our future.

And we all say Hallelujah, Amen.

(Copyright@2017, CrossDove Writer – This writing may not be reused in any manner without written permission.)

(More ‘Living 4 Today’ writings can be found at either wheezingaway.com or on Facebook at COPD Travels.)