There Is No Joy Without Experiencing Pain

I have been on a quote hunt today... I am always on the lookout for new ones that inspire me and really make me feel something.  This quote made me have a small a ha moment... I have been looking for the pain to be gone so I can move forward, what I should be doing is understanding that the pain may lessen but it will never be gone; I just have to move forward anyway.

I think many of us, especially me believes that if I feel pain I can never feel happiness again.  I will always hold a little of the sadness in my heart but that does not mean that I will never feel amazing joy again, I will.  I have had sparks of it in the past few weeks...

Pain is not always a bad thing, it teaches us lessons and strengthens us.  If we take the lesson and grow from it, that is good thing...  The lesson in all this is that I need to be grateful, even for the pain for it teaches me and protects me now and in the future. 

I wanted to give a little update to one of my posts 'A Jar Of Happy Memories', I have began to fill it when ever I have a happy time that I always want to remember; I wanted to share a few with you here today, as I think this is what is helping me to move forward and I can see that even though the pain is not completely gone, I can see where I am still able to feel happy.

My beginning list is that I had a really great Christmas with Valentina, I am talking to my oldest daughter Andrea again, I was able to talk to David on both Christmas day and New Year's, right at midnight.  What I see from these memories, none of them involve money, all of them involve people I am really close to and spending time with them, even if it is just on the phone...  I am going to save each of these memories as they truly make me happy.

"Everything you want, also wants you" ~ Jack Canfield