Lost and Finding Joy

If you’re feeling hopeless or lost, it might help to remember that feelings can and will change. Even if we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel just yet; a light will appear if we seek for it.

When we are facing a dark night of the soul, it’s important to keep a corner of our mind open to the possibility that things will get better; even if that corner is the size of a mustard seed,. If we hang on to just a glimmer of hope we can navigate our lives in such a way that things can and will get better.

Dark Nights of the Soul are inevitable in each of our lives. Jesus talked about building our house upon the rock, so that when the storms come our house stands still…not if they come. These moments, the moments when our world is shaking, show up when something greater is seeking to emerge in us. We may feel broken and even beaten. We may feel hopeless, lost, and even useless. When this happens we have a choice. We can choose to stay stuck in those feelings, and we can choose to give up or give in and become victims to our circumstances — or we can become victors. We can dare the dark. We can stare it square in the face and say, “Here it is;” “This is where I’m at;” “This is what’s happened.” Doing this, helps us gain some power over it.

We must also surrender. We must learn to change the things we can, and accept the things we can’t. Joseph Campbell wrote a book called, The Hero’s Journey. Just as every good story or movie, we must forge the river and slay the dragon to return as a hero. When we endure our dark nights of the soul, we become someone new — we become our own hero.

We can allow these experiences to take us to places within ourselves that we didn’t know existed. We can find strength that we didn’t know we had. Ultimately, we can be reborn into a better version of ourselves.

When we choose to step into the light by facing the dark, we find our true selves; and we move forward with added strength, meaning, and purpose.