Finding Your Diamond
Life’s heartaches and hardships can often be incredibly transformative.
Like the seed we bury in the ground, we need a little darkness before we can flourish in the light.
Like the butterfly emerging from its cocoon, we must endure a little struggle before we can spread our wings and fly.
Like the lump of coal mined from the earth, we need to experience some pressure before we can shine like a diamond.
Without experiencing some darkness, we cannot truly appreciate the light. Without life’s struggles we can never fully know success. Without a little pressure, we will never be forced to grow. And when we’re not forced to grow, we’re not going to discover any diamonds in our lives.
Finding Your Diamond
The people that we meet on our journey are people that we are destined to meet. Everybody comes into our lives for some reason or another. To put it another way, everything and everyone happens for a reason.
In her book Everything Happens for a Reason, author Mira Kirschenbaum writes,
“Each person who comes into our life has some kind of role to play. Sometimes they mirror our inner attitudes. At other times, they reflect our inner thoughts. But, with their simple presence, they will remind us of who we are and who we are not.”
Some of those people may stay for a lifetime; others may only stay for a short while.
It is often the people who stay for only a short time that end up making a lasting impression on our lives and in our hearts.
We don’t always know or appreciate the purpose they serve in our lives until it is too late. We allow some to break our hearts. We allow others to break our spirits. Some inflict physical or emotional pain. Others abandon us in our time of need. Some simply walk away without cause or reason.
I’ve always valued the wisdom of this anonymous quote:
There comes a point in your life when you realize: Who matters, who never did, who won’t anymore, and who always will. So, don’t worry about people from your past. There’s a reason why they didn’t make it to your future.
Although we may not realize it at the time, they will make a difference and change our lives in a way we could never imagine. Coming to the realization that one person can have such a profound effect on your life is truly a blessing.
It is because of these encounters that we learn some of life’s most profound lessons and, in turn, even learn a little more about ourselves.
But there is always one person that joins us on our journey and forever changes our story by becoming a part of it.
They are our greatest discovery.
They are the treasure we have been on a quest to find.
They are the priceless diamond that we have mined in order for them to “be mine.”
When you find the one who is drawn to your light and allows you to shine, do the same for them.
When you find the one who sees your flaws and failures and accepts you because of them, do the same for them.
When you find the one who forces you to look at yourself honestly and see yourself perfectly, do the same for them.
When you find the one who stands up for you when you are down and stands by you through it all, do the same for them.
When you find the one who is encouraging and empowering, patient and forgiving, and the one you can see spending the rest of your life with, be the same for them.
What you do for another, you do for yourself.
“Everything in life is fleeting, and nothing lasts forever – neither the sublime nor the horrible. So don’t trade your happiness for either one.”
— Arthur Jeon, Sex, Love, and Dharma
People will come and go into our lives quickly, but sometimes we are lucky to meet that one special person that will stay in our heart forever…no matter what. Even if that person does not end up staying in our life for as long as we would have liked, the lessons we learn from our relationship with them and the moments we experience in their company will be a part of our story forever.
We may find ourselves looking back on those times and acknowledging that because of that one individual we labelled “the one”, we are who we are today and we can recall and cherish those wonderful moments that were shared with that person.
Always follow your heart and, most importantly, never have any regrets. Don’t hold onto anything or anyone that no longer serves your highest good.
“Sometimes what we appear to have lost is simply something it was time to leave behind.”
— Marianne Williamson
If you take a deep look into your soul, you will realize that the person you are today couldn’t exist if it weren’t for the things that have happened in the past or for the people that have come and gone in your life.
“Perhaps time’s definition of coal is the diamond.”
— Khalil Gibran