Sunday, May 6, 2012

The Uses of Adversity

Pin It A book my mother shared with me called The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, discussed the uses of adversity. He writes...
"Many traditions have a notion of fate, predestination, or divine fore-knowledge. Hindus have a folk belief that on the day of birth, God writes the destiny of each child upon his or her forehead. Suppose that on the day your child is born, you are given two gifts: a pair of glasses that allows you to read this forecast, and a pencil that allows you to edit it. (Suppose further that the gifts come from God, with full permission to use them as you please.) What would you do?"
Jonathan Haidt explains that though it is human nature to want to take away any pain or heartache our child may experience, "erasing" pieces of someones struggles may in fact leave them weak or even underdeveloped.
"We need to face adversity, setbacks, and even trauma to reach the highest levels of strength, fulfillment, and personal development," Jonathan explains.
As I continue to grow as an individual, I finally began to understand the true uses of adversity. Each challenge we face in life, truly does bring us good in some form or the other.

I challenge you to take a look at your life...and the struggles you've been faced with...and ask yourself if you hadn't been faced with them...would you be where you are right now in your life? Would you be the same person? Would you have the same people in your life?

I also recommend you taking a look at The Happiness Hypothesis if you ever have time. It's findings of modern truth in ancient wisdom and it has lent me some everlasting knowledge and advice. And we could all use a little help once in a while, right?

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