Getting Over It

People have a hard time "getting over" whatever ails them and causes them to suffer. It could be a lost job, a divorce, the death of a loved one, or an injustice they've experienced in life. It's never easy to get over deep pain, fear, and other feelings that seize our gut, but we have to. Usually, people are finally willing to "let go" of what ails them when the pain of holding on is greater than the pain of letting go.

It saddens me to see people suffer. I hate to see it. Yet, each of us reaches a point in our life when we must accept responsibility for our own suffering and give ourselves permission to let go of our angst.

Some say only time can heal certain pain in life. That is partially true, but I think each of us has a responsibility to "get over," put behind, or let go of what the author and spiritual psychologist Thomas Moore calls the "dark nights of our soul," so we can heal and so we can stop making other people suffer over our suffering.

Communities have a hard time "getting over" whatever troubles them. They too must learn to forgive and move on. My work in economic development provides numerous examples of how community leaders and citizens hold on too long to their torment and prevent themselves from healing and moving to a more positive way of being.

May we all seek the blessing of forgiveness and allow that blessing to help us "get over" whatever troubles us in our lives.