Ok, I know I just posted like yesterday about overcoming adversity but i just read another story on the net! And since its related to adversity again, I’ll just write it here. Like a mini add on to my story yesterday!

OK….

Have you ever seen a butterfly emerging out of its cocoon? (If you haven’t like me, you can go to Youtube or other video sites to see!)

Anyway, a man saw a butterfly coming out of its cocoon. He sat and watched it for hours, struggling so very hard to get out of the cocoon. Then the butterfly stopped trying, it seemed to have stopped moving, and the man thought that the butterfly would be stuck forever in the cocoon.

So the man in his kindness, decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the last bit of cocoon. The butterfly then slowly but surely emerged from the cocoon. But unlike other butterflies, it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings.

The man expected the butterfly to soon strech its wings like the other butterflies and take flight. He expected it’s wings to expand and support the body of the butterfly.

However, even after observing the buttefly for days, for weeks, for months and even for years, NOTHING EVER HAPPENED! and the butterfly remained in the state that it was, with a swollen body and small shriveled wings. It could never take flight like the other butterflies. For all of its life.

Because what the man in all of his kindness and anxiety to save the butterfly did not realise, was that the butterfly needed to face this adversity alone.

The butterfly needed to get through the tiny opening of the cocoon. This would force the fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings and would allow it to stretch its wings and fly freely in the sky like the other butterflies.

But because the butterfly didn’t face its adversity, it was never able to fly.

So sometimes you question, why does this happen to me? Why of all the people in the world, do I have to face this adversity? When others don’t have to?

The reason is simple, if you go through life smoothly, without a single adversity, then you would be crippled like the butterfly.

You wouldn’t be half of who you are today.
You wouldn’t be as strong.
You wouldn’t be able to fly.
You wouldn’t be able to soar.
You wouldn’t be able to be who you can be.
You simply wouldn’t be the best of who you really are.

And without adversity, we would never be able to reach the sky. We would just reach the limit predetermined for us and never over that.

So to reach the sky, to reach who we can be, we have to face adversity. We have to have adversity.

Do not question it, just face it.

And at the end of it, you would have taken away something from it.

A lesson, a skill, a friend, things that in time to come would matter to you too.

You wouldn’t have been crippled from the adversity, you would have gained.

and that is why we have adversity. (:

So don’t give up. even if the road is dark and filled with obstacles. for like walking on a dark path, there will be periods of light. and even when its night, the sun would eventually rise again.

Adversity: an adverse or unfortunate event or circumstance

Everyone faces it once in awhile, more for some, less for others. The adversity of losing a something you care about, the adversity of losing someone you care about, the adversity of many things, but mostly it includes loss and pain.

because when you lose something, you feel like something is missing in your life.
because when you lose something, you feel like somehow life is no longer worth living.
because when you lose something, you feel like you can never move on.
it is an adversity simply because it made you lose a part of your life, a part of you.So how do we confront adversity?

The simple story about Coffee Beans tells us how we should face adversity. (:

When you feel like giving up, think about this story.

Have you ever boiled carrots, eggs and coffee beans in boiling water?

Do you notice how the carrots feel soft to the touch, almost mush like after being boiled? No longer hard and strong as before.

Do you then notice how the aroma of the coffee tingles your senses and becomes so fragrant? No longer as mundane as a simple coffee bean with little or not as much aroma.

All of us should be like a coffee bean when faced with adversity.

Why?

Because if you are like a carrot, then you may seem strong and unbreakable now. You may seem like you can carry everything on your shoulders. Like you could handle everything. But when faced with adversity like the boiling water, you crumble into pieces and literally turn into mush.

Because if you are like a coffee bean, you started out being rather fragrant. But when faced with adversity, you change into a better person. You, like a coffee bean, releases your aroma and fragrance and you become much better than before. You make the best out of a situation, and you become the better man/woman.

We should all be like a coffee bean. Simply because adversity shouldn’t break us, it should simply make us.

Whats the point of crying over split milk, or the loss of whats gone? For whats gone is gone and turning into a mush like the carrot and crumbling doesn’t help anyone.

Whats the point of being all bitter and cruel towards everyone in the world? For what hurt that has been inflicted has already been inflicted and cannot be taken back. Even turning yourself into a stone-cold person wouldn’t help to minimise anything.

Why not make the best of the situation? Why not turn what has hurt you, into something that can help you? Make you stronger, make you better, make you a new you with better strengths and qualities. For only by turning the bad into the good, and being optimistic, can you truly move on with your life.

So be the coffee bean, don’t be the carrot, don’t be the egg. Don’t be cold, don’t be weak. Be warm, make the best out of every single adversity that is given to you and become a better person.

“Turn your wounds into wisdom.” – Oprah Winfrey

And remember that through every adversity, there is still a shining light of hope at the end of the road.

“We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, “Why did this happen to me?” unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way.” -Author Unknown

Theres always good and bad, no all good and no all bad. So take the bad and try your best to make it as good as possible. Be the coffee bean. (:

Alright, time to update!!! I realised that the entries are now far and few in between and I promise will try (HAHAHA) to update as frequently as I can. Ok, today I’m going to share a story that I read in my friend’s blog. I have no idea who the original author is but its a story worth sharing so do read it and do share it. (:

This is a story about a man and his heart.

One day out in the streets, a young man proclaimed out loud to the crowds, “I have the most perfect heart in the world.”

Everyone was curious as to what exactly is the most perfect heart in the world? So they gathered around this young man and all who saw his heart agreed it was the most perfect.

The young man started to feel arrogant and called to the crowds, “If anyone can show me a more perfect heart, I would pay him as much gold as he wishes and I shall go on my way.”

Everyone looked around at each other, there was no possible way anyone could beat such a perfect heart. At this very moment, an old man walked up to the young man and said, “I think my heart is much more perfect than yours.”

The young man and his audience took one look at the old man’s heart and laughed. Surely this old man was crazy to think his heart was more perfect.

For the old man’s heart was scarred, and there were crevices found around his heart and where there used to be gaps in his heart, they were now filled with other pieces but not completely filled.

The young man questioned in his haughty tone, “My sir, I don’t mean to be rude but surely you are blind with age. So blinded that you cannot see the ugliness of your own heart.”

Just as the young man was about to dismiss the old man and challenge the rest of the audience, the old man spoke.

“I’m afraid you are mistaken for I can clearly see the crevices and gaps in my hearts and it is these crevices and gaps that makes my heart more perfect than yours.”

At this point, the young man and the audience looked at the old man in bewilderment and all mummured to themselves that this old man must have gone crazy with age.

“Let me explain. Everytime I love someone, I give them a piece of my heart. Sometimes people don’t always give me back a piece, which is why there are crevices in my heart.”

“At other times, when people love me back, they give me back a piece of their heart. This fills the crevices and though its not a perfect fit, it still fills me with more strength and love then with my original heart.”

“So though my heart is scarred and worn with scars but it is definitely more perfect than yours because it shows that I have dared to love. I have dared to rip a piece of my heart out and give it to other people, not expecting anything in return,” the old man explained.

Upon hearing his story, the crowd and the young man began to weep, for they now truly understood the meaning of a perfect heart. The young man took a look at his heart and without a second thought, he ripped a piece of his heart and he gave it to the old man to fill another crevice of the old man’s heart.

From that moment on, the young man was never filled with a moment of hate nor sadness, for in his life, he has experienced love.

This story applies to us all. For when we love, it is true that we sacrifice things to love someone. We sacrifice our feelings to them, we sacrifice our time to be with them, we sacrifice our sleeping time to think of them and we sacrifice a piece of our hearts to love them. But it is often not the sacrifice, nor the ripping of the heart that is important. Painful as these sacrifices may be, it is often always the more fufilling when we receive back a piece of anothers heart.

Another part I find true in this story is that though you may give a piece of your heart to someone, it doesn’t mean that you will always get back a piece of theirs. Thats where heartaches come in. For you gave a piece of your heart to them but you never got one back.

Yet, it doesn’t mean that we stop. We shouldn’t stop because its us daring to love that makes us different and special. Its because we dare to love that our heart is that perfect, the most perfect in the world.

Remember that love is not just about taking, it is also about giving. So remember that you shouldn’t always take peoples love but you should also give love back to people. Give love to your friends by helping, give love to strangers on the street by smiling, give love to your teachers by respecting and give love to your parents simply by loving. (:

As Samuel Butler once said, “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.”

So dare to love though it’s painful, because only by daring to try and love can you get love back in return. (:

A very simple definition of love that I found rather cute is by the cookie monster. “Sometimes me think what is love, and then me think love is what last cookie is for. Me give up the last cookie for you.”