WHERE THERE IS DESPAIR LET THERE BE HOPE – Senior Living Insight

WHERE THERE IS DESPAIR LET THERE BE HOPE  St Francis/Assisi     Aug 06

By Ruby MacDonald

Several times I have related that a thought is the first step in creating both the healthy and unhealthy emotions we live with. It takes but a simple persistent negative thought to lead to despair. Dr. Wayne Dyer, author of There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, says, “Despair is an attitude, experienced in the mind. It is a way of looking at a life situation and feeling hopeless.” He adds that there actually is no despair in the world. You cannot bring home a bucket full of despair; there are only people thinking despairing thoughts. “Despair itself is a mental process that sizes up and views a situation as awful,” says Dr. Dyer. Once we see despair as a mental attitude, we can remedy it by beginning the process of bringing the hope that will dissolve the attitude of suffering. Hope is also a thought. Hope is a vision. Despair is darkness. Hope is light. Hope is on the higher end of the energy scale that brings health and happiness; despair and gloom is on the lower end of the energy scale that makes us vulnerable to illness and depression. It clouds our thinking. We cannot see in the darkness.

In order to cope with despair, we must learn to stand back and in affect, detach ourselves from what is happening, or take on the attitude of the observer so that you can “look in and see the despair” as though you are another person seeing you. This detachment gives us the power to change our thought pattern to create hope and a higher level of energy. The higher the level of energy we can create, the easier it is to find the spiritual solution to our problems since God is peace, hope and love.

As we grow older, often the optimism we held about life turns to despair for many reasons. Loneliness, illness, grief, and more, can overwhelm us.   Gloom and despair may come from our attachment to the feelings that life is unfair, or we blame others for our sorrows, or we feel we are not understood. These equate to self-pity and self-loathing. “Despair allows the sufferer to suffer in comfort”, says Dr. Dyer. Often we despair over what or who is missing in our lives. We have been conditioned to think, “I am what I have, what I do, and what others think of me.” Yet if we listen, God’s voice will whisper that none of these things bring happiness. If we listen we may even hear Him say, “I am your only source of peace. I am the spiritual solution to all your problems related to attachments.”
To bring light to darkness, practice doing the following every day: 1) Refuse to dwell on thoughts about the problems in your life but rather on all there is to be grateful for even if it is one tiny thing. In time your list of blessings will become more evident. 2) Practice being an appreciator of beauty; strive to see the beauty in everyone and everything. 3) Read about those who have overcome darkness in their lives such as Helen Keller & Christopher Reeves.  4) Send out thoughts of love to those around you and immediately replace thoughts of resentment/disturbance/criticalness, with love. 5) Keep your thoughts centered on light and what you want, rather than on dark and what you don’t want; visualize your body as well and whole, do not reinforce any illness by thinking about it or discussing it habitually.  6) Go outside into the day light when thoughts of darkness overtake you since light dissolves darkness. 7) Practice purification by drinking pure water, eating pure foods, and keeping your thoughts pure. Repeat to yourself daily the following:
AS I THINK
SO SHALL I BE

Senior Living Insights by Ruby MacDonald

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