When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes finding strength through the belief in divine love rather than focusing on past suffering.
In this quote, Laura Hillenbrand reflects on how one's perception of their history can shift from a focus on the hardships endured to an appreciation for the positive forces, such as divine love, that contribute to personal salvation and resilience. It speaks to the transformative power of love and belief, suggesting that what truly defines us is not merely our suffering but the help and support we receive along the way.
In practice
A speaker reflecting on personal growth at a motivational seminar.
Every day after lunch when I was writing my first book, I'd nibble a square of fine chocolate and meditate on all that had gone into its creation: the sun and rain that spilled on the cocoa plant, the soil that nourished it, the hands that picked the beans, and so on. My taste of chocolate became a lesson on the interconnectedness of things, and the infinite blessings for which I am grateful.
I identified in a very deep way with the individuals I was writing about because the theme that runs through this story is of extraordinary hardship and the will to overcome it.
Without dignity, identity is erased.
It's easy to talk to a horse if you understand his language. Horses stay the same from the day they are born until the day they die. They are only changed by the way people treat them.
Most people, when they hear the disease name, it's all they know about it. It sounds so mild. When I first was sick, for the first 10 years or so, I was dismissed. I was ridiculed and told I was lazy. It was a joke.
The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when their tormentors suffer.
May each of you live lives of immersion. They won't necessarily be easy lives. But in the end, it is all that will sustain us.
Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder.
I'm always trying to prove to my 17-year-old self that I can do creative things I thought weren't possible.
We don't want to tell young girls and boys that the odds are stacked against them from the start. Instead, we could tell them that with passion, conviction, and determination we can build a better future. This future is possible by redesigning our economy to truly reward hard work rather than wealth.
I'm not going to throw my imagination away. I refuse to lie down to expectation. If I can just hold out till I'm thirty, I'll be incredible.
But again and again, we should reflect back to the darkness of the cocoon. In order to inspire ourselves forward, we must look back to see the contrast with the place we came from. You see, we cannot reject the world of the cocoon - which out which we may create a new cocoon. When we see the suffering that occured in the old cocoon, that inspires us to go forward in our journey of warriorship. It is a journey that is unfolding within us.
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