For some of us, our steely exterior becomes stronger and protects us and allows us to squarely face what is thrown at us during the battle. But for others, the vast majority of people, the steel - although strong - still fails when the going gets tough. And so these people think that they just need to get stronger by somehow incorporating the last experiences they faced into their person-hood and that is all they need to do for 'next time'.

"I need to make the steel STRONGER!"

"More heat! I need more HEAT!"

However, I've found out that this is simply not the way to go through life.

Life is not meant to be hard.

Neither are we.

Life is only hard because we became hardened ourselves.

Rephrasing, we didn't let the scars of life heal properly and instead just became covered with a tough, scar-encased exterior.

Again, Life doesn't have to be this way.

There are two ways to meet life. One, with the understanding that what happens to us happens to us for a reason and that this Life lesson contains something inside of it that we can learn from for next time.

Or, we can respond to life with the attitude that all we can do is steel ourselves for the next blow and that that is simply our lot in life. All the while we become more hardened on the outside yet more hotter and bloody on the inside from all the 'unfairness' of life.

The marriages failed.

Aging is catching up no matter what kind of surgery is done.

Death of close relationships. And people. Family members.

The sex, the drugs, and the alcohol don't 'work' anymore.

Work doesn't satisfy anymore. No matter what's done.

We all know many people who just let life flow off of them like the proverbial water off of a ducks back. And we all know people who just seem to become more angry inside as the years and decades of life cut more notches on their belt of Life.

If we're smart, the latter are the types of people that we avoid. They're not good for our soul. Or our Heart of Hearts.

You see, these angry people have made a choice. They chose to be the way they are in Life. Yes, at some time during their journey through life they stood facing the ubiquitous fork in the road and they chose the path that led to the hardening of their exterior.

...And the hardening of their heart.

...And their soul.

But, again, one doesn't have to live Life this way. One can decide that life is meant to be full of many different and differing experiences for us to learn from. All of these experiences brought into our days so that we can grow as a human being from them.

All of these varying experiences presented to us so that we can find out more about ourselves and at the same time work so hard to shed the deeply ingrained response to steel ourselves against that next imagined impending blow of life.

We can be the person who decides that what happens to us in life doesn't require us to now automatically harden up our life armor. Rather, it requires us to drop all accumulated defenses. Yes, all of them.

Why?

Because the enemy is imagined. The enemy is alive only in the mind. No one else's. Our mind. Your mind.

There is no life enemy to protect one's-self against. Outside of potential physical harming to the body, there is no actual enemy to fight.

Why?

Because once a person realizes, right in the middle of one's preparation to fight the endless line of life foes in one's life, that THIS image that one is having is what is causing the hardening of the heart - the battle is won.

THIS image is what is causing the heart to become jaded with life.

THIS imagined enemy is what causes the soul to become encased in anger and the blame of the decades past.

And yet, this is not a way to live life. This is not a way to go through one's existence.

We all started out with a perfectly clean slate as children. Way back when, before the mind came into being through exposure to society and all its influences, we only reacted out of normal physical and emotional reactions. The body got hurt, the body cried. The heart got hurt, the heart cried. Simple.

But as the mind came into play the whole game changed course. Now one began to think and believe that the world was out to get them and it was a truly painful place to reside and so one had to become 'stronger'. But this was the beginning of the first wrong choice made at that first fork in the road of Life.

Life is meant to be a learning experience for all. It is not meant to be one of unfilled happiness. Or continuing angst during one's days.

And it also is not meant to be a time when one just grows more angry and bitter and rage-filled at all life has brought to one during their days past. And days to come.

Understand that Life can be different for a person. But it is up to that person to see this first.

It is up to the person to see that there is a different way to go through one's days.

It is up to that person to just simply see this.

And then to say to themselves when they become aware of this fact "Yes, there is another way to be."

That's all. That's it. Period.

There is no more to know right now.

And if YOU want to change who you are and how you react to the world as it organizes another battle in your ongoing Life war, first just see that who you are is not who you have to continue to be. Especially during the hard times.

Step out of the war. Drop the armor you 'think' you need. Realize there is no war to steel up against in life. The war is only in your mind.

Don't continue or become like one of those dark, angry and evil people you know and or have in your life.

People can change.

But, the big question is: How badly do YOU want it?

And how far are you willing to go to get it?

The battle's coming, again. Ready to drop your Life armor?

Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'

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