Seeing the opportunity in trauma

I was talking to a friend a couple of days ago about some of the more character-building experiences in my life. He said it was kind of a shame that I'd had to go through the suffering associated with these events. It made me realise that, rather than feeling regret, I was grateful for these experiences, for each one of them had not only made me stronger in some way, but had also kind of 'shifted me up a level' in terms of my spiritual growth.And in a way, pain, if approached in the right way, can be a catalyst to our spiritual evolution. And that bleak state when it feels like everything has fallen apart in our life - perhaps our marriage breaks down, we lose our job or our house goes up in flames, or all three - when we are feeling raw and open, can often be a great opportunity. Take this little guy, for instance (above)... If he wasn't able to let go of his identity entirely and become cocooned in his chrysalis for what must seem an age in caterpillar terms, he would never become a beautiful butterfly with the freedom to explore new worlds. Would he? Like in this chrysalis stage, in the most raw states in our lives, we often don't know what the outcome will be, what we are 'becoming' - but if we are willing to dive in, to let go, to surrender all, rather than limiting ourselves to what we have up-till-now known, it can often be wonderful! The challenge is to completely let go in this transition, to 'walk into the fire' and be transformed, realising there is nothing to fear but the discovery of our own magnificence!In the coaching sessions I do, I seem to be increasingly facilitating people through such transitions, encouraging them rather than to 'close down' and go into fear, doubt and old patterned behaviour, to take the opportunity in the situation and transform. A bit like the caterpillar does in its transformation into a butterly. The chrysalis stage can perhaps be an unsettling one, but just look at the outcome - a beautiful butterly with the freedom to fly!!!This theme also ties in with some of the themes in Buddha in a Wheelchair, the biography of I've just finished writing of a wonderful man called Dan Eley - out soon. Watch this space!