"A renowned violinist once announced before a concert that he would play one of the world's most expensive violins in the theatre on that cosy night. His first composition was played flawlessly, and the audience was so thrilled at the performance.
After taking his bows, the musician suddenly smashed the instrument, completely destroying it. The audience was horrified - that is, until the violinist explained that he had been playing a very cheap violin.
Then, picking up the expensive instrument, the virtuoso began to draw the bow across the strings, as everyone could tell, the sound was so beautiful, but for a large majority of the audience, they could hardly differentiate between the music from the expensive violin and the cheap one."

Obviously the quality of the instrument was indeed secondary to the skill of the violinist. This is quite similar to us as personalities today, the sweet and pleasant tune residing in each one of us should not be a function of our circumstances and situations, but like the violinist let the circumstances in our lives to be subjected to good command control with the right mindset.

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The Great Misnomer.

With the increasing rate of depressed cases amongst people today, a lot of us easily give in to the turbulence that we encounter on our pathway to success. we gullibly let our circumstances take the wheel in defining who we are, what we are made of, who we can be, and what we can achieve. You see a lot of people today who are bitter, belligerent, obstreperous or even worse simply because of the condition and circumstances that they are faced with. But take a closer look at the subject of concern from the text above; we are unconsciously becoming violins which can say that our tunes are actually defined by the fame, strength and opinions of the challenges we face.

Imagine if the violinist could not perform that night reason been that the violin refused to produce a sound because it was of an inferior quality, imagine if it actually let the presence and fame of the other most expensive one defy its capabilities and tune simply by accepting defeat.
In like manner when we let the hard times we face change the way we see the world, and the way we relate and treat people, then we are no wiser than an ordinary wooden musical instrument.
When we lay down our beautiful tunes i.e gift or skill on the bedrock of failure or disappointment, when we put the cart in front of the bull, when we put blames of our bad attitudes and addictions on things and flimsy reasons, we are no smarter than that instrument. But God forbid should that be true, because I for once on few occasions have found myself in situations where I let the circumstances around me define my reaction and view of life.

Reason being that for most people today, when we are faced with little hardship, or for expectant women when we are faced with years of barrenness, or for students faced with repeated failures, or for job seekers faced with an undesirable humiliation and poverty, or generally for people faced with one abuse or another in life, we tend to carry along the pain and anguish wherever we go. We somehow unknowingly display these acts of bitterness and hate publicly, but how can it be, that the clay tells its master the shape and form it would like to take, how can we transfer the unfortunate encounter from one platform to the other. We need to learn to live the mercurial lifestyle that is not subject or conditioned to besetting circumstances, we have to consciously and deliberately force ourselves to always play fine tunes of us no matter the page of the note we're playing on. We have to not let our pain overcome our joys even if it takes putting on a poker face.
I recall the travails of a certain woman in a neighbourhood who was constantly abused by her husband, but the most striking part about it that kept a lot of neighbours in shock and awe was the very fact that she was able to compartmentalise her pains, wear an ever glowing charming smile and countenance that never gave place for the gruesome attacks she might be experiencing at her home.

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The Blessing Attached to every Pain.

Just like the quality of the instrument was secondary to the skill of the violinist, however pleasant the sound of the violin could be, it only came to reality by the art and skill of the violinist. In life today the quality of our lifestyle is a function of our mindset and not a function of the circumstances we face, no matter how tough the circumstances may be, it can only affect us if we set our minds to be susceptible to its influence.

A brief look into the window of life an how it has posed to be favourable an unfavourable to some in terms of their physical configuration, health and also financial buoyancy has shown that at every point in our life an at every situation we find ourselves, we should learn to be grateful.
We could decide to spend the rest of our lives whining and complaining of our pains, challenges and difficulties and never make an inch of progress out of it. Or we could choose to seek for the proper answers to the circumstances we face at every point, for only those who have sought properly and asked diligently have been able to discover the hidden treasures.

From the context To every Problem comes a Blessing attached to it, tragically we sometimes spend the rest of our lives trying to solve a problem, trying to fix a problem, trying to find a cure, trying to provide a solution, trying to ease the pain; that in the process we fail to do the one needful thing and that is to Identify the blessing attached to the Pain.
I am neither a scientist nor a physicist but the lifestyle and ways of STEPHEN HAWKING is one that strikes a constant shiver of shock and inspiration to me. I mean this was a man who could neither walk, move nor talk. but somehow in his problem and challenge he found the blessing behind it in disguise. his influence and contribution to life itself is unquestionable. He never let the quest for answers and solutions to his plight deter him from greatness, he never allowed the negative circumstances and pain from doctors reports prevent him from seeking the answers to greatness, hence his departure was indeed a colossal loss. Can we say that there has never been a single person in the world who may have suffered from that same devastating disease?? the answer of course is a bold NO! But then the most remarkable things of all is that he braved the wind and discovered the blessing attached to his challenge.

If we look around again we can still learn from the living legend of NICK VUJICIC, I call him a LEGEND because I draw strength and inspiration from him daily.
This is a man without hands and legs, if any one had the legal prerogative to whine and whinge all day he'll make the first ten on that list, but he realised the one thing that "the quality of the instrument was secondary to the skill of the violinist", he found the right answers even in the worst of places. The Pain in front obvious and palpable never constrained him from identifying the Blessing behind. So whatever condition it might apparently seem to be, the key to it all lies in the few steps;
- Seek for the right answers before asking the wrong questions:- seek for answers that define your problems and pains before asking for solutions to them.
- Strive to decipher the blessing behind every challenge even before quantifying the magnitude of the circumstance
- Possess the form of the violin from the subject:- Never let the circumstances around define you negatively from your true nature and destiny.

The greatest task of all is the ability to consciously blindfold the negatives of the obvious pains and challenges, and then fine-tune ones mind to discover the blessing that lurks behind. For it is only by acknowledging the star in us that we can unearth the giant within.

Author: D.E Abraham
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