“If experience is about wealth, then I’m a very wealthy person.” – Dr. Gregory Smith (former sociopath)
As I sat there watching the Year 4 students as they went through a drama class, the teacher taught them an element of drama that I never before knew. The situation revolves around a problem – if there’s no problem, then there’s no story, no narrative, nothing stimulating to pique the onlooker’s interest.
Dr. Gregory Smith is an incredibly fascinating person. His story, here. Someone who grew up in the dramatic horrors of domestic violence was orphaned, convicted of arson but relieved of the burden of paying for that crime due to reasons of temporary insanity; who lived in a forest for ten years. Finally, in his late forties, he came upon an epiphany. He learned something that turned his world upside down (as if he hadn’t already lived an upside-down life).
Smith learned that his extreme antisocial patterns of behavior were due to the fact he had been fighting himself all along. He was central to his problems.
That spoke to me. It reminded me of an epiphany I had of the Lord on July 7, 2015.
Having learned this powerfully fundamental and paradoxical truth – that when we admit we’re the problem only then are we free to provide our solutions – Smith was finally able to commence the wrestle of reconciling the drama of his astonishingly professional life.
When we finally discover that problems are inherently part of the theatre that life is, we’re positioned to transcend our questions through the provision of solutions, which could not come otherwise.
The theater of life only evokes passion when we have problems to overcome. See how issues are principally part of God’s plan?
Accept that problems are part of life and, with passion, prime yourself for adventure.
When we take this approach, thankfulness informs our narrative, gratitude emerges, and, as persons, we thrive.
