What makes despair excellent?

Despair is like hopelessness. Its a word used to describe how you feel when you sense you have lost something important. This could be a job, a relationship, a situation that had appeal. You were attached.  Despair is about when you are ready to give up on yourself. It relates to resisting forced detachment. 

And yet, part of you hesitates to believe this perspective is impartial or meaningless.  You catch a glimmer of light amidst the apparent negativity.  What prompts you to view despir as suddenly excellent? Consider 15 mind-blowing benefits;

1) You see, hear and laugh in completely new ways.

2) You learn the universe orchestrates its own justice.

3) You build love, compassion and honor to heal wounds.

4) You realize nothing matters as much as you thought.

5) You discover a shift of focus awakens deeper mindfulness.

6) You feel exhaustion and then calm, fearlessness and silence.

7) You embrace universal equality with renewed sincerity.

8) You slow down to detect feelings of unimpeded harmony.

9) You realize humility triggers profound devotion to nothing.

10) You see eliminating craft and profit erase motive of theft.

11) You experience diminished desire, and return to simplicity

12) You recognize long-established comparisons are trivial.

13) You gain insight into mercy, empathy and indifference.

14) You sense form is neither full nor empty, just present.

15) You grasp nothing harms you unless you give consent.

Comments

[Hilary]

Hi Liara .. some of those mind-blowing benefits I feel as I go through this journey with my mother, when the unnecessary happens .. and I'm stretched in my belief of what's happening .. that leads me to feel moments of despair ... but after I say 'I give up' .. my mind rechannels and as you do - you have to deal with it and get on with things.

Thanks for an interesting post on making despair excellent ..
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters

[Liara Covert]

Hilary, repeated reasons for frustration and sadness trigger the onset of despair, yet these emotions do not have to last. It is always possible to choose to learn something valuable from where you are. Jimmy Dean said, " I can't change the direction of the wind by I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." Remind yourself worse things could happen than the events unfolding right now. Each experience strengthens and shapes you.

[Jannie Funster]

"You realize nothing matters as much as you thought."

Ah, this is so true, Liara, in so many of our wordly pursuits. Except for perhaps realizing that love matters at all times and as deeply as all creation, I guess?

And thank you for sharing your lovely being in photo form with us. It inspires me to follow suit on my blog with a picture of me, something in addition to My Big Eye.

[positivelypresent]

Wow. That is a really wonderful post. I'm always trying to avoid negativity and despair, but you make an excellent point here. It reminds of how you much you appreciate the sun after a long, long period of rain.

[Liara Covert]

Jannie, it can be surprising to realize that everything is good for you, even when you may initially be shocked and taken aback by certain experiences. With hindsight, every person can look back and value situations after the fact. Yet, during a particular moment, fear prompts you to wish to be elsewhere or to have avoided things altogether. As awareness and self-acceptance grow, you appreciate where you are at that moment, and all emotions you feel. Everything is a teacher. Everyone is a perpetual student.

[Liara Covert]

positively present, when you aim to avoid despair, then you are also unknowingly avoiding all the benefits you gain from learning how to feel and work through it. That is not to encourage everyone to consciously go out and create experiences that generate despair. Yet, it does remind people they can always choose to make the best of their circumstances and recognize every experience has meaningful purpose. What is happening is for the best.

[Lisa (Mommy Mystic)]

I was recently reading something in one of Carlos Castaneda books about melancholy - not quite despair, but similar in nature. His teacher Don Juan talks about is as this sensing of your own transience, and in that it contains a truer appreciation of this moment because you experience its uniqueness, that can never be exactly replicated.

[Liara Covert]

Lisa, as a human being opens the self to accept the mysteries of mystical experience, perception and consciousness shift to sense everything differently. You suddenly realize nothing is as it seems. Ramakrishna has said, "one can reach the Source if one follows any of the paths of whole-hearted devotion." Certain experiences are constant and everlasting. Your reference to Carlos Castaneda suggests you will appreciate this post: http://blog.dreambuilders.com.au/journal/2008/4/6/carlos-castaneda-3-facets-of-toltec-knowledge.html

[Penny]

It's so amazing to take a situation of despair, and turn it completely around. Sometimes when I look back I can definitely imagine many of these points, and it's what makes you so grateful for everything you've encountered in life and how far you've come.

[Liara Covert]

Penny, your revelations ring true. As a person evolves, or chooses to shift awareness, that person can sense the blessings where he is at a given moment, regardless of which emotions are generated and whic thoughts spin around in the mind. Consciousness expands to where you realize you control what you think and feel every moment. To recognize and overcome fear changes everything.

[soulMerlin]

There have been the 'usual' triggers for feelings of despair in my life. The failure of my marriage, The passing of my Mother and Father...

...each one of them produced a change for the better and new opportunities, awareness and wisdom.

Quite a few times, I have not particularlywanted to continue with this life...later I look back and see that it was the best learning moment and a moment of and for change. Despair is indeed excellent.

henry

[Liara Covert]

Henry, as a person learns to find blessings na dnew insight into love in every circumstance, then live gains more profound meaning. We value your willingness to share personal experience with readers here.