Guest Post by Stuart Mills of Unlock the Door: Ever felt like things were so bad you had no idea what to do? We’ve all been in situations where we worried that the very worst possible thing that could happen was going to happen, even when evidence suggested it wouldn’t. Sometimes these ‘worst-case scenarios’ actually take place. But more often than not, they appear in only one place – our minds.

I’ve been a high school teacher for about a decade now. I’ve been touched by the number of students who have shared their personal histories, both successes and heart aches, some of them gut-wrenching. But I’ve learned some valuable lessons about life along the way. Here, I present four of them.

Life has a way of hitting us upside the head at unexpected moments. Sometimes we stumble. Other times we fall and struggle to get back up again. Some people never do. Battered by circumstance, they become bitter and angry or depressed and despondent. An indescribable ache fills their hearts. A cloudy haze drapes their minds in indifference to anything but their own pain. Even their souls seem to become worn, ragged, ripped and broken. Others, however, seem to bounce back relatively quickly. There are reasons for that difference.

We fear losing it as we age. We take supplements to boost it. We buy books and listen to programs to improve it. But memory can also work against us, tying us to old beliefs, daily ratifying suspicions of self-doubt. In such cases, memory becomes insidious, eating away like tiny incessant termites gnawing at the structure of our lives. But you can stop that process beginning today. Come see!

Pain is Life’s great master-teacher. It is the refiner’s fire, the heat that destroys the bacteria of life. It can burn off impurities, or it can consume and destroy. Our attitude, however, determines the outcome. But what do the trials and adversities of life teach us? What lessons are we to learn? What impurities does the heat of trial and tribulation burn off?

Have you ever felt sucker-punched by life? Have you felt like you were at your rope’s end? When we find ourselves buried under the weight of trial and despair, we are confronted with two mutually exclusive choices: 1) Lie down, and accept your fate, or 2) Scramble to your feet the best you can, stand as tall as you’re able, look your trial in the eyes and persevere. Come discover 5 ways you too can persevere in the face of your challenges and even become better for having endured.

Part II of How to Stay Happy on a Rainy Day. Is life raining down cold, bitter darkness? How can you find purpose in your trials? Change what you do, your thinking and your beliefs for greater peace.

Stress has gotten some bad press lately. And not without good reason, I suppose. Nonetheless, while stress can cripple and debilitate, it is also necessary for life and for living. Stress is truly a two-edge sword

An ancient rendition of, “This too shall pass.” Trials endure for a time, then end and slowly fade into the fog of memory. The snow of winter, of cold, of disappointment and pain lasts only for a season.

“There is change in all things. You yourself are subject to continual change and some Read More.

Here’s the thing: If you can use the pain to do good, to save someone from having to experience the same pain, then the pain is graced, if you will, with something noble. The ugliness behind the pain isn’t meaningful, but the pain will have led to something that is deeply and even profoundly meaningful.

Through gasps of tear-filled pain, of an intensity that was heart-breaking, she told me how wonderfully things were going … externally. As she cried, she told me about the turmoil she feels at missing a family that doesn’t deserve to be missed and about external circumstances that really were pretty wonderful, all the while feeling utterly sad and empty

Unhappiness is much easier to acquire than happiness. Happiness may create an easier life, but Read More.