We live in a world filled with fear, toxicity and deep uncertainty.
It’s easy to look to others to make you feel safe and to wish for more pure leaders to help keep you strong.
Yet, underneath the layers of disappointment, pain, rejection and insecurity that a human being accumulates as we advance through life is everything you currently seek.
...at your core is unconquerable courage.
...at your base is fearlessness, wisdom and boundless love.
...within your foundation lives primal genius, native artistry and a joy that exceeds anything society can provide to you.
You really don’t have to transform. You only have to remember [all you truly are before the world taught you to play small].
You’re not broken, in need of fixing. You may simply be disconnected with your authentic heroism—and so in need of recalibrating.
Pre-order my hugely anticipated new book The Wealth Money Can't Buy and receive 5 truly extraordinary FREE bonuses [including a 3 hour live online summit with me, a complete virtual training program and 10 powerful morning meditations used by my top clients: all valued at $8,767 USD]. Here's the link so you can pre-order the book.
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If you are going to get in the game of life, you're going to be knocked around a lot. And often, failure is the price of success. And pain happens because you reached for your mountaintop. And as you take more risks, and as you get in the game more, and as
you show more bravery, you will suffer more. If you look at the great history makers of humanity, the Mother Teresas, the Nelson Mandelas, the Martin Luther King Juniors, these people suffered more than most people because they were such great dreamers.
Another thing I'll share with you is I have faced a lot of pain in my life. I've been at the top of the mountain, and I've been in the valleys of darkness. And I will share with you that I've grown the most through my difficult experiences. Sometimes people
ask me in media interviews, "Do you have any regrets?" And I always say, "Absolutely not." Everything that's happened to me was grist for the middle and fodder for my growth. Everything that happened to me... The amazing experiences and the most
tragic experiences were a necessary part of my evolution as a human being. And I would not trade them for anything. So I wear my scars with joy and respect as badges of honor of a human being who is flawed, trying to do his best. And I think you should as well.
And if you're going through a painful time right now, trust that everything is happening for the best, and this too shall pass. And here's a really counterintuitive idea. Stay in the difficult experience as much as possible. Pain is purification. Pain is purification. We burn off the dross that covers our gold in the difficult moments. It is in the difficult times of our life that you are being asked to learn empathy, and understanding, and forgiveness. It is the trials that teach you how strong you are. It is the adversity and the troubles that make us great. If we choose not to be a victim but say, "Hmm, I'm going through a trouble. How can I use this to develop forgiveness or understanding about that person who hurt me," or, "I'm going through a difficult day, or a difficult month, or a difficult year, rather than complaining about it and becoming bitter, how can I use it to open my heart and to become stronger and to get to know my gifts and my talents?"
I was once on an airplane flying to Paris, and I was next to an artist. And he told me, he said, "I pick relationship partners who break my heart." And I said, "Why?" And he said, "Because when my heart is broken, I do my best work." And it is when we are suffering that we actually can become more creative. Suffering teaches you to become more real. Suffering can teach you to become stronger. When I have gone through the most difficult experiences of my life, I've always turned to a book by the great Lebanese poet, Khalil Gibran, and it's called The Prophet. When there's a particular chapter on
pain that I read in those dark times of my life... And I want to read it to you. "And a woman spoke, saying, 'Tell us of pain.' And he said, 'Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life? Your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy, and you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you
have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.'" I want to go off-script for a second. A great life is a series of seasons. You have your painful times. You have your happy times. You have your times where you are frustrated. You have your times where
you're full of energy and inspiration. That's called human. There's nothing wrong with those emotions of pain, and guilt, and sorrow. That's a necessary part to living a colorful, real, beautiful, majestic life. And then Khalil Gibran continues, "And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief." I just have to read that again because it's so beautiful. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy and silence and tranquility. For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the unseen. And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay, which the Potter has moistened with his own sacred tears." Honor your pain. Trust that what you're going through is for your greatness. And stand strong in the winters of your sorrow so that when you get to the season of sunlight, you bring your greatness and
your brilliance to a world in need of your gifts and talents.