“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” ― Haruki Murakami

I found the blog post from Moodscope.com rather perfect for today, and I thought I’d share it withe all of you. I get this in my inbox EVERY morning.  You should too. It’s a great way to start the day. Sign up to receive Jon’s insight here: http://www.moodscope.com/login

“For me, driving through countryside shortly after a devastating fire was a sad experience. Everything was black. The few trees left standing were stunted and bare. The acrid stench of sooty smoke gripped my throat.

It was easy to imagine that there would be no future for this territory, that its end had come.

But so very often this is not the case, because after the rain, after nature has worked its incredible wonders, small shoots of green appear. Then slowly, steadily, gradually, the environment returns to normal. Sometimes it does even better than this – the effects of the fire may enrich the soil, resulting in a greener and more pleasant land one day not so far down the road.

Someone comparing before and after pictures might be led to declare the area resilient, and indeed this is exactly what it has demonstrated.

But note: the fire still happened. If we’d been there when it was burning, we’d have seen only destruction. Resilience didn’t mean the vegetation was fire-proof. It didn’t somehow repel the flames.

No, the resilience is what came later. It’s the way in which the environment dealt with change, accepting it, kind of shrugging its shoulders and saying ‘well that was a mess – better get on with fixing things now though’.

I think we can learn from this. Resilience and being able to bounce back from adversity are tremendous qualities, but usually there’s no way to prevent the bad stuff happening at the time: the storm must simply be weathered. However it’s what comes later that counts, and an acceptance that things are as they are can go a very long way to giving you the strength to believe that they’ll get better again.

Surprisingly, after a forest fire there’s nearly always still a forest.” — Jon Cousins, http://www.moodscope.com

I was talking with a friend this morning about Hurricane Sandy and all natural disasters. I find them humbling. No doubt there is heartache and pain and unbelievable damage to be fixed, but it is also a reminder to all of us on the earth that we are NOT as powerful as we think and we are NOT in charge. Mother Nature rules our lives and we have to remember that, and remember to do our part to respect her and learn from the obstacles she throws at us. Thinking of those around this world who are recovering from ALL of Mother Nature’s natural disasters as well as those that are weathering their own individual storms. Hang on and push forward as you weather the “storm,” because, as Jon Cousins said, “The storm must simply be weathered.”