The other day I was watching the movie, The Yearling with the iconic stars, Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman. Their only son returned home after getting lost and his father noted that he came back changed. That is what harrowing life experiences do for us. They alter us and adjust our viewpoints. The son understood why his father made him kill his pet deer that had grown and become a menace after eating the family crops.
We too are growing day by day and this pandemic has forced many of us to see things in another way. Several have matured through solving problems moment by moment. It may be new for some to chug away at arising dilemmas all day, but others have known nothing but struggle and strife.
We may wonder why some people seem so unmoved by upheavals and others run around in a frantic fluster. Those that appear calm know deep down inside that this too shall truly pass, for they have earned higher levels of maturity. Like the irritations that go on inside the clam as it creates a pearl, the seemingly laidback person can sigh, “Been there. Done that.”
They know that no amount of screaming, crying, walking the floor, staying up all night nor wearing down their friends with endless tales of woe will change anything. Sometimes others can bail us out and sometimes they simply cannot. Some situations come to be confronted, endured, and handled. If we do not handle those problems, then they will handle us.
Over time, we will find that everything has an answer but like the boy in The Yearling, oftentimes, the change must come from within. Wayne Dyer said, “When you change the way you look at things, things change.” Once we alter our outlooks, we can live freer and less infringed upon by circumstances.
At the end of Indiana, a French novel written by George Sand, I heard her message loud and clear. I say her because Madame Dupin was the real authoress. The protagonist had been disappointed in love but as time went on, all the bad feelings evaporated as she moved on and loved the one who was loving her. She matured and stopped pouting about what might have been and lived life.
Maturing takes work. It requires constant prayer, and hours of quiet reflection as we do deep soul-searching. It takes admitting when we have been wrong in our actions or in our opinions and mostly, it takes a willingness to change. If we can do that, then we will operate as calmer, more seasoned, mature beings who can handle whatever comes along.
Lynn M. June 27, 2020
Lynn's Thoughts 