Tag Archive | challenges

Valley of sadness…

Sep15

When a crisis visits, big or small

When the storm is relentless, will not stop…

Take a deep breath and feel what you feel
Every feeling should be welcome

But when the intensity of feeling gets hard to bear
Try to be gentle with yourself
Get busy doing something that cheers you up or
Lend a helping hand to a friend

Get outside of your world
And enter someone else’s life
Many people are suffering
Suffering doesn’t discriminate at all…

Sometimes little things or big things will get you down
You will enter the valley of sadness for a while
But if you keep walking and don’t stop
You will walk through the valley and eventually walk out!

The valley of sadness, can be hot and dry
It will challenge your endurance most times
But there is always an end if you persist
The secret is to hang in there and not give up!

Crossing the valley of sadness is much easier, of course
If you have good friends and a supportive family by your side!

Lida Berghuis
September 15, 2014

The ocean of life…

Sep12

I see the ocean of life
Sometimes calm
Sometimes tumultuous
Sometimes wild

But life goes on
Despite the ups and downs
Despite the storms that come
Despite the times that we think we will not survive

We are resilient
We will survive!
The ocean will return to calm
And we’ll be so glad we persevered
Didn’t give up

The ocean of life
Beautiful!
Dangerous!
Deceivingly serene at times!
Unnervingly turbulent at times!

But life goes on
Despite the changes and chances
Despite the sorrows and challenges
Despite the periods of grief that seem to not want to end

Hope and faith
Friendship and love
These are the things that help us navigate the ocean of life

Lida Berghuis
September 11th, 2014
Inspired by a composition by Leon Alatif

Chaos and order!

Sep4

Order to chaos
Chaos to order
That seems to be the cycle of life!

After chaos, order comes into being
But order can only last so long
Before it’s time to grow again
And chaos arrives to destroy the order that exists
To prepare the way for a new order, and calm!

When one is in one’s comfort zone
Life seems more pleasant of course!
But comfort never leads to growth!

Growth comes from the disorder of struggles
And challenges that may seem insurmountable at times!

Chaos and disorder, not comfortable
Not what we love
But oh, the results can be wonderful
If one persists long enough
And learns the lessons they teach us

The building needs to be destroyed
Before a new one can be built
An old idea must die
Old habits must be let go of
Old patterns replace new ones

Often, it’s after the dust has settled
New lessons learned
New thinking adopted
New habits formed
That one realises what the chaos was for!

What was thought of as misfortune
Can be seen as grace
What was painful
Can give rise to joy!
Illness can lead to clarity
Blocks in the road can lead us to another path

One’s best laid plans can come to naught
What emerges instead though
Can be a marvelous surprise!

Lida Berghuis
September 4th, 2014

On the lookout for beauty

Aug28

3717CB9F-7EED-4738-AAB9-2219DFF94BCE

 

 

 

On the lookout for beauty
Something to cheer my soul
Because doesn’t beauty do that so well?

A beautiful melody
A beautiful arrangement of flowers
A beautiful piece of art
A beautiful poem
A beautiful song!

All these cheer my soul
Bring me to a place of calm
I can leave my worries behind along with
My to-do list, my obligations, my responsibilities
All these can wait for a few moments as I breathe in
Deeply the fragrance of beauty

The challenges of life are many
And in the end, one of the things that sustains me
Is beauty!
In a world full of trials
Where sadness and sorrow can’t be avoided
Where we are tested each day
Where disappointment is inevitable…
Art and beauty provide a balm
A reason to go on and
To celebrate life and love

Lida Berghuis
August 3rd, 2014

The climb…

Jul31

This world is like a mountain we have to climb
Challenges are there
Our strength and perseverance is tested
But each height we reach is breathtaking

What can make this climb more manageable?
The support of friends
Someone to cheer us on
To walk along side us
A shoulder to cry on when things get tough
A friend to lean on when our strength wanes

And sometimes we’re the one who does the cheering up
The one who others can lean on
The strong one, for the moment…

Lida Berghuis
July 26th, 2014
Montreal Youth Conference

Cold comfort

Jun23

Everyone tells me I’ll be fine
I’ve been here before
And I’ll get out again

I believe them, sort of…
But that doesn’t ease the pain
The challenges I’m facing now are ever present
I’m still in the battlefield being battered and bruised
The fact that sometime in the distant future
This will be all over is cold comfort!

Yes, I’ll be fine
But what about now?
How am I to endure this pain
That won’t let go of me
How am I to smile
Knowing that tomorrow will be the same
And victory is in the distance

Nevertheless I have to find reasons
To keep hope alive
I rely on my friends
On prayer, on art!

The journey is long
There are not that many signs to
Show me the way
I walk with a heavy heart
With indescribable sadness
Feeling incapacitated
My energy drained
My laughter silenced
My mind foggy
My flow of words slowed to a trickle
My surroundings grey

It’s cold comfort to know that
Nightmare will be over when one is
In the midst of one
But human beings are resilient
We can always find reasons to go on!

Lida Berghuis
June 9th, 2014

Collage

May7

Collage

Can’t pretend nothing happened
Can’t pretend it was easy
Can’t try to sweep it under the carpet
Can’t let it go without addressing it

And what was it this time?
Why again?
Why am I so fragile?

It was a marathon
A test of endurance
Putting one foot in front of the other
When pain, sorrow and anxiety
Was the order of the day

Everyone told me I would be fine
But in the meantime
I had to go through what seemed like
Unbearable times

I know I’m not the only one who suffers
I know I’m not unique
But I have to acknowledge what was
I have to come to terms with it
Understand it
Or at least be at peace with it

As I celebrate the return of light
I have to revisit the past
Arrange and rearrange the pieces
Until I’m satisfied
Until it’s ready to be a part of the collage of my life

Normal!

Jan26

Normal is so predictable
It poses no challenge
It’s a puzzle that has already been solved!

Normal maybe comforting, safe
Won’t raise any eye brows
But it won’t intrigue either
It doesn’t bring excitement to the table
I doesn’t go somewhere new!

Normal does not test one’s resolve
Normal does not make us problem solve!
There is no hurdles to overcome
No mountains to climb

Normal does not celebrate the human spirit
The will to achieve the impossible
The strength to endure!

Leading normal lives not what we’re here for
And I wonder sometimes if normal only exists in our heads!
A nice neat package wrapped in pretty paper with a bow!

Lida Berghuis
January 26th, 2014

Fire of trials…

Oct25

Can’t feel pain unless we step into the fire
Can’t burn the impurities off our soul
Can’t experience pain just looking at fire
Can’t understand pain intellectually, no!

Once heat has seared our skin
Once our soul has felt the heat of trials
We are transported somewhere else
A place that is hard to describe

But those who have been there can tell you
It is worth the pain, abundant the rewards

Lida Berghuis
October 25th, 2013