Are you suffering in your life? Has your health collapsed? Are you floundering in your career or relationship? Have you experienced abuse or trauma? Does it feel as if the world is against you? Are you struggling to cope?
In life, we all face challenges and trials. When we confront these things, there is always a choice: we can either remain powerless, or we can use our situation to raise ourselves up and transform ourselves.
Look at the people who inspire others with their lives. Have they had easy paths? Invariably you find a story of loss, trauma, survival and then transformation.
This is the Master Path.
The Initiation
In the Ancient Egyptian Priesthood you were required to endure initiations and trials to progress. If you survived these ordeals, you went up in the hierarchy. One such trial was the infamous crocodile swim. The initiate was required to go down into a dark underwater tunnel. As they emerged from the tunnel, they would look up and see crocodiles on the surface of the water above them. If the initiate returned the way they had come, they had failed. If they panicked they might be eaten or drown. If they had the courage to swim down further into the darkness, they would find a second tunnel which would lead them to safety.
Imagine what it must have been like to emerge from the darkness and step out into the sunshine, knowing that you had survived the worst of terrors. Your whole understanding of your own strength and worth would have been utterly transformed. From that moment on, you would be treated with a whole new respect by others. Your life would never be the same again. You would know, once and for all, what you were truly made of.
Why on earth would anyone choose to put themselves through such an ordeal? The answer is simple: they did it because the potential gain was worth it.
So how does this relate to your life?
Why not make your current situation the most significant experience of your life?
If you are ill, why not choose to get better? If you have lost everything, why not find the strength to rebuild. If you have suffered abuse or trauma, why not use your experience to be an inspiration to other victims? You do have this choice.
Our beliefs about what we can and cannot achieve are simply programmes in our minds. Just as your software limits what your computer can do, so limiting mental programmes can hold you back in life. You can replace any belief that is holding you back. Each programme, each thought and feeling, is simply energy. Matter is simply energy. Energy can be changed into another form - this is physics.
Will you let the crocodiles eat you?
When you decide to swim down further into the darkness, it takes faith: faith that there will be an escape tunnel, and faith that you will have the strength to reach it.
When you are at your lowest, you come face to face with your shadow side. This is the place where you see your greatest weaknesses, face your biggest fears and know your greatest despair. There is no hiding! However, if you have the courage to take this path, you will find wisdom, realise who you truly are, and find a strength you never imagined possible. By going through the darkness, you will be reborn and will find the light again.
So, what will you do when you see those crocodiles swimming above you? Will you let them eat you or will you have the faith to swim down further into the darkness and find the path back to the light?
The Challenge
What about those Masters who inspire others? What makes these people special or better than you and I? Absolutely nothing. They simply did what we can all do. They confronted the darkest of experiences, released their limitations and catapulted themselves up, reborn.
Will you accept the challenge? If you do, one day you will be able to look back and say, "That's the best thing that ever happened to me."
Embrace the Master Path, make your life better than you could possibly have imagined, and become an inspiration yourself. You have it within you.
Dr Anne Whitehouse went from Scientist and University Lecturer to ME sufferer and invalid. Then, despite what the doctors told her, she decided to get better. She is now a speaker, transformational therapist and author of You Are The Alchemist - Transform Your Life. Do you want to inspire others with your life? Would you like to help others by being an example of hope? Would you like your suffering to have some real meaning? If you are stuck in fear and powerlessness, you can stay where you are, or you can use it to turn your life into an inspiration. Would you like to learn how you can do this for yourself? Go to www.TheAlchemyDr.com to find out how and join Anne online for discussion and support. at www.annewhitehouseauthor.com.