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
The one who laughs a hearty laugh
Has probably cried many times
True joy doesn’t exist
In one who has not suffered at all
Joy springs from understanding
From having endured difficult times
Let your laughter ring out
During times of joy and wonder
Let your tears fall when broken hearted
Laughter the sun
Tears the rain
Both are needed
In our life on earth!
Lida Berghuis
April 3rd, 2013
I always knew humility was not my forte!
There were times I felt very self righteous
I thought I had the answer to many questions in life
I knew I didn’t know everything
But I thought I knew a lot!
The confidence I felt
Came from not having lived long enough
To experience real pain and real suffering in life
I had not fallen hard yet
Unable to get up
I had not been brought to my knees by the trials of life
I had not been thrown into confusion
And questioned the fairness of life
I had not come to the point of questioning the point of life
Considering all the suffering it entailed
But life has a way of showing us how small we are
How mistaken we can be
How easy it is to break and lose faith
How hard it can be to get up again!
And perhaps that’s good
Because these are lessons
That can’t be learned the easy way
These are lessons
That require the sobering effects of pain!
Lida Berghuis
March 19th, 2013
“Surprise and challenge in
Heartache and joy out!”
I think this pretty much explains life
There are always surprises, big and small
What we plan does not work out
What works out, better than what we planned
Challenge is on-going like the waves of the sea
There is respite, but not for long
Heartache always visits us
But what we’ve got to do is to let go
Feel it deeply and let go
Accept it as part of life
Joy always returns and washes the pain away
The sun always returns another day
Lida Berghuis
March 9th, 2013
*Mark Nepo
“We break, bleed, and rearrange
Into yet another beautiful thing”
It’s the “friction of being alive”
That polishes the gems we are
A life of ease yields no fruit
The stone that is not polished does not shine
Lida Berghuis
March 8th, 2013
The pain of separation
One I’ve felt before
It tears at one’s heart
But one feels alive
The pain can be pushed away
or buried away
But gone will be the feeling
Of being alive
This pain is not to be avoided, but endured
This pain is the proof of a deep love
Lida Berghuis
March 1st, 2013
We can try as hard as we can
Read as many self-help books as possible
Attend workshops on relationships and communication
But our world will still be a messy place
Conflict will not go away
Pain will not disappear
Anguish will still come our way
Im not saying we should not try
All Im saying is dont expect perfection if you try
100% effort does not always result in an A+
Our world is imperfect
Even unjust
But we are resilient
We will survive
The image of a happy life being
A problem free life is for me no more
Problems are here to challenge us
Teach us, help us grow
Pain is unavoidable in life
Even those we love
We hurt sometimes
But we are resilient
We will survive
Ill try to relish the joys in life
Live with the pain
Accept that our world
Is an imperfect place
And we are the imperfect inhabitants
Doing our best!
Lida Berghuis
November 22nd, 2012
It’s painful to smile
And cry inside
This pain I have felt
Many times
Shutting out others from my pain
Pretending to be someone I’m not
So easy to fool others it is
I can put on a smile anytime
I’d rather be myself
But don’t know how
My smile is my trademark after all
Yet I feel fake
I feel dishonest
un-genuine
As I keep up that radiant smile
They say how are you
Expecting “I’m fine”
How can I not oblige?
What do I say?
“I feel terrible”?
“I feel anxious”?
I feel like an imposter most times
When others don’t look
My smile fades again
No reason to pretend any longer
When others don’t look
I can be me
“The tired me”
“The scared me”
“The confused me”
The me who longs to reach out
But does not know how!
Normal is someone we don’t know well
Goes the quote
We all have a public persona
And a private one
The public one gravitates to the norm
The private one is free and flawed
Normal is what we show on the outside
Flawed and real what we keep inside
Deep inside
We are all imperfect and insecure
We all have fears and anxiety
We all make mistakes
We all feel shame
Our public persona
Smiles and posts happy status updates
Our public persona
Smiles in all the pictures
Deep inside
We all have cried
Felt lost and hurt
Fallen flat on our faces
Lived where confusion reigns
Sometimes we live in a fantasy world
Where everything is supposed
To go well all the time
Where success comes easily
Where mistakes are frowned upon
Where heartache is to be avoided
Where pain is to be run from
But the real world
Is messy and seems unfair
In the real world
Darkness and light exist together
In the real world
Mistakes can lead to growth
In the real world
Normal is what we see
And reality resides within
Lida Berghuis
April 5th, 2012
To die to the self
To grow towards the beloved
To die
And therefore see with new eyes
To die
To let go of old habits and thoughts
To be born anew
Requires that we die
The egg needs to crack
For the chick to emerge
The seed needs to break
For the plant to grow high
Therefore, life is a series of deaths
Childhood dies and adulthood emerges
Our adult self dies
For the soul to be free
Death is never the end things
Its only the path to the beginning of things
Death involves pain and suffering, of course
Its hard to associate pain with growth
But once weve experienced a few beginnings, we
Can be assured of how things work
Lida Berghuis
October 2nd 2011
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