In your life, someone cheated you out of something. Another lied to you. Others gossiped about you. At some point, you suffered the loss of a friend, parent or spouse. Someone hammered you on the tennis court, chessboard or the boardroom. A spouse cheated on you and left for another woman or man.

(Everything on this planet moves toward the light, moves toward growth, moves toward becoming. You belong to the great energy of the universe to fulfill your life with every challenge. You can dance the dance of life.) Photography by Frosty Wooldridge, Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Betrayal causes deep internal suffering, pain and heart ache. No getting around it! Every human being on this planet faces tragedy and pain—multiple times in their lives.

You may choose to suffer for years as if your life becomes a funeral. Or, you may celebrate the lesson with a renewal of your existence. Every “event” in your life offers a lesson, good or bad. Every “moment” creates an opportunity to grow and renovate yourself.

Let’s say your best friend lied to you or betrayed you in some painful manner. Or, your spouse cheated on you with another person. Someone scammed you into bankruptcy. Perhaps you lost a leg to cancer. Maybe your parents abused you. Any and all the unfortunate “moments” in life may affect you in some way.

You may live through an experience, but that doesn’t mean you have to become an experience. For example, one lady lived an extremely poverty-stricken youth. In her life, she married a man who traveled all over the world. She traveled and lived in Hawaii. She brought up two great kids. She walked into the Pantheon in Rome. She dined in France. She played golf on weekends. Her husband took her dancing regularly.

But for the life of her, she couldn’t and wouldn’t shake her impoverished youth. She complained so much so, that 50 years into her life, she harangued to whomever would listen—her traumas of youth. Thus, many degrade their lives by focusing on “I was cheated…I was fired…I suffered because of so and so….”

You might call that life path a “self-tormented existence.”

I am reminded once of an architect in America who built a fabulous hotel lobby. For his crème del a crème, he purchased huge glass columns to facilitate the grandeur of his hotel. During transport, they broke into pieces from a crash. At first, he decided to toss the entire glasswork into the trash. But then, after contemplation, he thought of an idea: paste all the broken glass shards into a giant mosaic surrounding the lobby. At the finish of his construction, the public marveled at the beauty of the artistic glasswork surrounding the atrium. From rejected glass shards to artistic brilliance!

You might carry a broken spirit from some defeats or betrayals. If you maintain the memories of your event, you burden your spirit with negative vibrations. You create unfortunate thought patterns that embed themselves in your mind. That calls in more agony.

How do you solve it?

First, avoid figuring out why someone lied to you, cheated on you, or undermined you. Realize that life serves up many challenges along your path. You either learn the lesson and move on, or the lesson revisits you.

If you can’t understand any of it, decide to let it go by choosing to think other thoughts until you abate the negative thoughts dragging you into depression or distress.

Second, choose some time period for bitterness, mourning or discord over a loss of spouse, job or friendship. What happened might have been out of your control, but you own the choices on what to think and how to act from this point forward. Once your angry period ends on a specific date, move toward emotional health by banishing any memories that keep you down. It’s a choice and you possess it.

Third, every lesson transforms you one way or the other. For those who like to remain or drag themselves through the past like the lady with the impoverished youth, they drag their pain into every corner of their lives. They stagger on the dance floor of misery.

Fourth, dance on the dance floor of joy by surrounding yourself with positive people who laugh at life, dance every dance and love the ride. They create a contagious joy that vibrates into everyone and out to everyone. In the end, the Great Spirit infused you with all the qualities to live a grand and glorious life. Engage your spirit through walks in Nature, take action toward optimism and enrich your life with positive thoughts and vibrations.

Make your life a dance. The dance floor awaits you!

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Author's Bio: 

Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents and 11 times across the USA in the past 40 years. His 12 published books enlighten, inspire and encourage readers to live at their highest and best. www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com