Trials and Tribulations: Life lessons in perseverance and determination

So let’s look at it this way, the first aspect about going through trials and tribulations is being able to recognise when to persevere and when to walk away.

There’s a huge wisdom in knowing and understanding the difference between the two.

So it’s vital to know yourself and to be able to connect within and to trust yourself. Your internal navigation system will guide you to know the difference. And even though it may present differently for each person, it’s always along the lines of listening to and acknowledging your gut instincts, which I know can be very hard if you’re used to abandoning yourself or to people pleasing. This is where healing your filters (remember it’s your traumas, values, beliefs, attitudes, language, decisions, memories, mental processes and past experiences) comes in handy.

The more you follow your internal compass, aka Allahs guidance, the more you learn to be able to differentiate; and the stronger your knowing, feeling, seeing, perceiving and understanding becomes.

Basically, test your guidance and the signs you get… that’s the best way to figure out what works for you.

I have learnt (the hard way – with many heartaches and tough life lessons over many years), that the more I follow my first instinct, the more the Divine guidance unfolds. Your intuition is a gentle voice, it’s never loud, shaming, blaming or defensive. The shaming/blaming/defensive self is a shadow aspect (lower nafs) which, if you allow yourself to curiously explore, can lead to many wonderful wisdoms and insights.

So now that you’re able to know how to differentiate between which path to tale regarding your struggles and difficulties, let’s look at some further wisdoms you can gain:

Can you think of a time when you tried really hard and all your efforts seemed to work against you?

You were going nowhere fast even after many attempts and years of effort, and felt like giving up.

When you sat in tears, questioning your path and if the troubles will ever come to an end.

When life knocks you down, we’ve all been there or are there, right!

Take a moment to reflect on if and how your internal conditioning changed.

Notice if and how it moved from anger or defeatism or resistance to perseverance and determination.

So what’s the difference…

Anger is well anger, picture someone who just fights for no reason.

Defeatism is about giving up and not even trying, heck, we even use fate or decree to justify our defeatism. Here patience is taken to mean just accepting and doing nothing to change yourself, your condition or situation and waiting patiently for something to miraculously change or Divine intervention to take place. How’s that working for you?

Resistance is fighting against your circumstance in that you are driven by the desire to avoid pain… which usually causes more pain.

Perseverance and determination is a inner strength, driven by the desire to move toward a need or value, like the need for freedom, love, safety, commitment, stability, enlightenment, etc. Also perseverance and determination is not in the absence of resistance, but rather in the attitude or inner heart that’s driving it.

They carry a very different energy and ultimately will determine the outcome of your struggle.

Exhaustion or Expansion

Fear or Love

No purpose or Higher Purpose

Then we begin to understand that anything worthwhile takes time.

And your Struggles and Difficulties become valuable life lessons in patience, perseverance, resilience, grit, tenacity and determination in relation to God consciousness and spiritual growth. It becomes a journey of Heartwork and Aligned Action.

“And Allahs promise when He says: “That man can have nothing but what he strives for.” (an-Najm, 53/39)

A true recipe for success

What have you learnt about yourself through your trials and tribulations?

What gifts have you received?