You Were Made For This  ~ by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times.

I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly

bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our

world right now. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and

often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what

matters most to civilized, visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have

aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders,

everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking.

Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry

by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most

particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these times. Yes.

For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just

waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.

I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see

one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels

in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are

fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the

history of humankind. Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats

of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your veneers may

shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the long

timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That

long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to

hold its own, and to advance, regardless.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how

much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a

tendency, too, to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside

your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending

the wind without raising the sails. We are needed, that is all we can know.

And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who

will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they

appear. Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say you pledged to

listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask for grace? Don't you remember

that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater?

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching

out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm

thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of

this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to

know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an

enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of

acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does

not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small,

determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or

hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a

stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like

gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares,

builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the

lantern of soul in shadowy times like these—to be fierce and to show

mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest

necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit

and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of

the strongest things you can do.

There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt

despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it. I will not

entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate. The reason is this: In

my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is that there can be

no despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who you serve,

and who sent you here. The good words we say and the good deeds we

do are not ours. They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us

here. In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall: When a great

ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is

not what great ships are built for.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D

Author of the best seller ~ Women Who Run with the Wolves

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