Sunday, November 18, 2012

The Option of Hope





 A man's face is his autobiography. 
A woman's face is her work of fiction.

Oscar Wilde



My dear friend Nancy is always directing me to wonderful information I would otherwise miss.  She brought to my attention a website by Jeff Foster.  Through his writing, I learned a  positive and supportive concept  regarding individuals facing  suicide, a subject we usually would choose to ignore.

Jeff Foster points out that many individuals considering suicide, really don't want to end their life, they just want to end the falseness that has been built into their lives.    The heaviness of dragging around masks of deception, and the pain of not being who they intended to be,  have created such a terrible burden they just want it to end.  Do they really want to die?  No, they just want the nightmare to end and at the moment, they cannot see any other way out as they are exhausted and desperate.  (Jeff Foster's website:  http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com )

Jeff Foster's website records the story of his presence with a suicidal wealthy single mom.  He was not there as a therapist, nor was he  there to talk her out of her decision.  He simply sat with her as a passive listener as she unloaded all of the burdens of her life.  Just his quiet presence encouraged her hour after hour to continue emptying the disappointments and disillusions of her life.

In time, the woman began to talk about what she originally intended for her life and the aspirations she held as a mother to her only child.  As she recalled her earlier dreams and desires, a spark of life returned to her.  She became curious as to how she might disassemble  her current life and rebuild her newly recalled dreams and desires.  She had created an option for herself, one that is available to us all ... hope.

It is never too late to reconstruct our lives rather than ending them.  It may take some doing, but the desire to return to our authentic self will give us hope which can be a brilliant light to lead us out of our darkness.

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