It was Oscar Wilde who wrote “When it rains look for rainbows, when it’s dark look for stars”. For a man who was very talented but had a somewhat troubled life, it conveys a positive message. We often find that those who have suffered difficult times or bad experiences, are able to offer words of hope.
When a person is in the depths of a crisis with no obvious way out of it, from somewhere there often comes a spark, an idea, a light shining the way forward. Once through the worst of a terrible situation, it’s normal to look back and wonder how you ever managed to get through it.
We all have times like these in our lives, that’s just how life is. There’s no escape from the good and bad experiences of living life. In many ways, it’s these occurrences that make us into the person we become.
Some situations are much worse than others, but each of them has its effects. Being subjected to an unwanted relationship split-up, as bad as it is, can’t, in anyway be compared to the horror of experiencing something like a devastating war or living under a brutal regime. How do we manage to find the rainbow?
Why does it Rain in Our Lives?
Ups and downs are part of life, as I’ve already mentioned, but have you noticed how it can sometimes appear that everything is going wrong for us. It isn’t, although it seems that way. We notice all the negative things.
This is because your mind is like a magnet, it’s the way the law of attraction works. Your thoughts create energy, which are vibrations and they attract similar vibrations.
To demonstrate this, suppose you get out of bed first thing in the morning and because you’re half asleep, you stub your toe on the side of the bed. That hurts, and it immediately creates a negative feeling.
Feelings are created from our thoughts, so your thoughts are now negative. Perhaps that causes you to be grumpy with your partner and create bad feelings which leads to an argument. You might shout at the kids and more bad feeling is created. And so, on it goes.
Your negative thoughts are sending out negative vibrations of energy and that’s exactly what gets sent back to you. If you’d looked for the rainbow when it started raining, or smiled when you stubbed your toe, perhaps none of this would have happened!
Finding the Rainbow
In the physical world finding the rainbow when it rains is relatively easy, but in your mind it’s a different story. You might say that it’s easy for me to sit here writing that you should jump for joy and be happy if you stub your toe, but that’s not what I’m saying.
What I am saying is that you have a choice. A choice to how you react to situations, a choice to how you feel, a choice of how you conduct your life. It comes down to your thoughts, you are able to choose your thoughts.
Yes, easy to say and not so easy to do, but you do have the power to choose your thoughts. When you accept this, it can be liberating because, although it’s obvious, you really are in control – if you want to be.
In simple terms, all it takes is to be aware of your thoughts, then change them. The easiest way is to monitor how you’re feeling – remember, thoughts create feelings. If you feel negative, examine what you are thinking.
Replace your negative thought with a positive one and do it immediately. Like anything, it takes practice, but the more you do it, the easier it will get. You’re exercising your mind as you do your muscles. It’s tough in the beginning, but after the initial pain, you gradually build up.
This is how you find the rainbow when it’s raining, you take control of your mind rather than it taking control of you. Your mind is not you, it is only a part of you. Knowing how your mind works and you being in control, is the key.
Be Open to Change
Sometimes obstacles can present opportunities that we’d not previously seen or thought of. It’s a matter of looking beyond the obstacle or believing you will overcome it, that brings the opportunity into view.
Too often we close our mind to new possibilities and they are lost forever. I’m sure there are many times in your life when something happened which you didn’t want, but looking back later, you were glad it did.
One time for me, which I’ve written about before, was over 20 years ago at a particularly difficult time in my life, both personally and professionally. I wasn’t in a good place, when out of the blue, I received an offer of a very good job.
If I accepted it I would have to leave my life behind and move many miles away. I didn’t want to, but I did. I listened to my inner voice and moved to a new life and thank goodness I did. My inner voice showed me the rainbow!
When it Rains Look for the Rainbow because it is There
You’ve heard the saying, “I can’t see the wood for the trees” and that a bit like the rainbow. The difference is that trees are wood, but a rainbow is not rain. A rainbow is a beautiful reflection of light from the rain.
Although a rainbow isn’t a physical thing, it does exist when the sun’s rays reflect off the rain droplets. If you think of the rain as setbacks and frustrations, you should always be aware that there is a rainbow somewhere. You might not be able to see it right now, but it is there.
Better times do exist even when all around you seems bad. By shifting your mind to the better times, as though they’ve already arrived and believing in them, will help change your mindset.
Wouldn’t you rather think about the beauty of a rainbow rather than the dreariness of rain? Of course you would, so do that when you’re in a difficult situation. You’ll feel better and that will be your first step to changing the bad times. Always remember, when it rains look for rainbows because that’s the place you’re going to.