I recently watched an action packed Bruce Willis flick you don’t want to miss: Disney’s “The Kid.” In this show, the character played by Willis is a high-powered perfectionist that has fixed everything in his life to go his way. Through hard-work, education, and removing all the bad things about himself, and he was able to reach this high level of success – or so he thinks. Willis then starts to have some interesting experiences that teach him a lesson about what is important and what is not.
Some may say that it’s funny how we get things messed up in our head and then cause an emotional or spiritual train-wreck in our life. I’m not laughing at this kind of tragedy. We all know the right things to do, we all know what we should be doing, we all know what is expected of us to have success. Yet, whether we are doing what we know or not, many of us are still unhappy and still trying to perfect the imperfectable. What’s wrong?
In the movie (spoilerish), there is a moment when the main characters realize where they went wrong was trying to eliminate and forget painful parts of their life. To achieve this impressive level of success in this life, he missed out on the richness that leads to true joy and happiness.
We don’t live happily by avoiding pain. We are happy by courageously pushing through the darkness of anguish, and feeling the light of a joyous sunshine when the clouds break. So much of addiction, depression, and anger are a form of running away from the things that hurt in this short life-time.
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So the next time you find yourself falling in step with demons you though you had anchored to a dungeon wall or buried deep in the earth, ask yourself this question: “What emotion am I running away from?” Do you have emotional pain undealt with? Are you hiding something embarrassing from others that really do love and care about you? Is something bothering you and you’ve stuffed it inside like a crowded smelly hamper?
When you can work through the tough stuff in life in an emotionally healthy way, it’s a relief; a little like finally clearing up congestion, and taking a deep clear breath of fresh air. You can breathe easier, think more clearly, and love more completely. We can be examples of courage in the face of life’s difficulties and allow our kids the same privilege of learning courage on training grounds of a loving home.
Keep Climbing!