The Darkside of Life

Today I would like to address a serious topic. It's all around us, in everything we do, say, act, think, breath and more. It is a growing concern amongst us all. What I'm talking about is the darkside of life. Yes this is a real, feeling, breathing, emotional, hurtful thing. It creeps in unexpectedly without warning, it doesn't discriminate, it has no favorites, nor does it care if the person(s) are healthy or terminally ill or dying. Its prime directive is the infiltration, to conquer our minds and spirits, to entrap us, strip us of our most inner self and to never let us regain our posture.
I know there are those who either flat out refuse to believe this, or refuse to talk about this because of the hurt, but if we talk about the darkside of life it helps us to overcome and stand tall! We MUST NOT allow this worldly evil to win. If need be seek help, talk to friends who won't judge or mock you, talk to those who can relate....just talk about this evil will shut it down!
Yesterday I had the un-enjoyable experience of meeting the darkside of life head on. Here's how: since June I hadn't had any military comp. in turn the stress level's been up a lot because I worry about my kids having enough to eat. Haven't being able to pay rent since June I called my landlord, explained the situation and to my surprise he was okay with it. Here's where the darkside slapped me in the face: My captain in my home unit, who I won't mention his name; called me saying I was AWOL cause i didn't show up for work. I explained how I went through the chain of command as par normal and he then proceeded to threaten me with cutting off my military compensation. right then and there fear took control and stress mocked me.
This is how the darkside works: it cannot work alone. It must be in co-operation with other life disturbing attributes because the darkside cannot work alone! It's too cunning and deceiving. It needs minions to carry it's plan because it's to prideful to do anything itself. When it accomplishes this feat, the darkside is unstoppable "UNLESS!" we as Jedi or person(s) reach out and talk to someone who is willing to listen and or help us overcome and defeat this foe.
It is my prayer through this message you find the encouragement, hope, strength and will power to stand up and say "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" or "I need help!"

May the Force be with you always...

Tai-yun Dai

Are you saying its okay to ask for help when life is stressful?

Are you asking for help?

Yes it is okay to ask for help. Asking for help let's others know we are in need of help in a situation that we cannot handle ourselves. Never think it's not okay to ask for help. No Connor, I have my help already lined up, I'm just letting others know that asking for help is healthy for us mentally and spiritually.

The biggest misconception is the belief that asking for help is a sign of weakness. On the contrary!!! Asking for help is the acknowledgement that yes there is something wrong, no we ourselves cannot handle that specific obstacle and yes we need help from someone to conquer that obstacle.

May the Force be with you all

Tai-yun Dai

Yes asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it's a testament of the strength of bonds. Unfortunately many have to face dark challenges alone because their calls for help go unanswered, either due to apathy or simply not having anyone capable of helping...

As a child my pleas for help went unanswered causing a deeper fall into the darkness. Before it could completely consume me though I found a strength of resolve I never knew of, since then I've adapted and learned to thrive in even the darkest of times alone. Understanding the pain and suffering caused by such things enables me to empathize with others that feel it and enables me to guide them out....

Being alone in the dark can be terrifying, but it can also teach some of the greatest lessons of strength and resolve...

As jedi we should always be willing to reach out into the darkness to pull others back into the light...

Ryujin,

I to know the intimidation of the darkness as a child. My mother, being an alcoholic back in the day; would lock my sister and myself in closets and then hold the doors shut ;laughing at us both. Though scared, I felt a hand of comfortness upon my shoulders and I have learned many lessons that only folks like us understand through darkness. I to never had anyone to ask for help, being an army brat, my father would leave for long periods of time leaving us to deal with my mother and her love of alcohol. Thank God for my neighbors the Beaches. If it wasn't for them being there in my and my sisters time of need I wouldn't be alive today. Now I am fortunate to have the opportunity to help those either trapped or lost in darkness.

Tai-yun dai

For me it was an abusive cocaine addicted step father, an alcoholic mother, and numerous school bullies....most days back then felt as though the entire world despised my very existence...as though it was actively trying to extinguish me....I began to treat the world the way I was treated...I developed a fiercely defiant and independent nature...no friends, only eventual enemies and potential tools.to be used when necessary...I still maintain the defiant, independent nature...it's one of my strengths, and at times a weakness (I'm still too independently stubborn to even consider asking for help, as I'm accustomed to solving my problems myself)....when I was in psychology class I found an interesting little test in the book and it indicated that I have.more than half the signs of aspd (anti-social personality disorder)...Isay the test was bupkiss...I'm not anti-social I'm just not easily convinced to trust in others...

Hi. I appreciate that this is being discussed. I'm sure there are many of us who have been through aspects of darkness. I was born blind. There was a point in my life where I thought this was a cause of literal and figurative darkness. Fortunately, when I reached high school, I had good mentors who were both blind and successful. On the topic discussed, I always teach my students that independence is knowing when to ask for help and when to do something by themselves. I also work with them to see the gifts that can be developed such as a heightened sense of intuition through focus.

Indeed the dark side affects many of us. Like others here, my family too was harmfully impacted by its addictive members, and violence among those who by rights should be bound by ties of trust was regrettably too common.

And yet . . . in some ways I consider myself fortunate. Partly, because I am aware of people whose struggles in life have been yet still more severe than my own. But also in part, my gratitude is for what has emerged from my walk. An old Hindu explanation of that tradition's use of the lotus flower as a symbol of life's nobility and beauty explains that thanks to the roots of the lotus extending down into mud and muck, an exquisite flower appears above the surface of a pool. Just so, in my case and that of some others, the hardships and pain of the past cracked open the shell of the ego, allowing caring and compassion to flow.

Might there be a better, less painful way to reach the same end? It sure seems so; the healer who hones her gift caring for those traumatized and assaulted on a battlefield and the one whose talents are polished in an upscale urban medical center both help humanity in a similar way. For whatever reason, some of us seem destined to take the hard road; far be it from me to know why, but it seems to be the way of things.

May all who have suffered be guided to that which will heal them.