When reflecting upon your life I’m sure you can tell stories about the most horrible times of your life. Times when you just didn’t think you would get through the grief, change, confusion, etc. And yet…..it is really true….that it is precisely those times when we learn the most about wisdom, and true inner strength. It’s easy to fall in love. It is easy to make choices when you have enough, and are living in abundance. It is hard to work through the stages of marriage that involve power struggles, or to say good bye to a relationship when there is a decision that there is more healing in letting go. It is hard to have gratitude when you are chronically sick or when you don’t have enough money to pay the bills. However, as hard as those times are…..there is NO WAY to obtain the level of compassion for others in this world from a heart space without those times. Now……that does not mean that I will tell you to be grateful when you are enduring hard times. NO!! Do what you can to persevere and get through it. And once you have gotten through that moment, or that day, or that week ….enjoy the compassion and connection to others in the world that comes with having survived. And don’t be surprised if there are lessons learned, that can’t be obtained any other way than having gone through that experience. These lessons become gifts for you to offer others as time passes. It is in THAT vein that I say “Good news; bad news….who knows?”