Daily Mindfulness 10/10/12 – Meeting Adversity

The prayer of St. Francis of Assisi is a prayer of meeting adversity with love, compassion, and understanding.  It reminds us “Where there is hatred, let me sow love.  Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith.  Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light.  Where there is sadness, joy.”  There is an old Chinese proverb that says “It is better to light a candle than to curse the dark.”  The message here is that when we meet adversity in our lives, there are solutions.

Practicing mindfulness, we remember these concepts in moments of difficulty.  Rather than resist the world around us, we practice bringing compassion to it.  When we find ourselves met with resistance, we see the pain and suffering in the other individual, and attempt to bring some love to the situation.