Everything will be okay

Once in Guadalajara I locked myself out of my apartment at night and I was swearing at myself, getting frustrated and worried, thinking about what I could do. That night I slept on my friend Carmen's spare mattress and in the morning I opened my door with a little help from the maintenance lady.

Looking back I wonder why I would be worried at all, when I've been in so many tough situations where everything was solved with some support from my friends, or a little resourcefulness. We might even feel guilty when we ask for help, and so we can remember all the things we would do for our friends if they were in a jam. Of course, we would come running if we knew we had the golden opportunity to make life easier for someone we cared about, to sit them down, make them tea and ease their nerves.

Take the time to reflect on how you overcame what you thought was so difficult. Take a moment to be grateful for the times your friends and family, and even strangers, have helped you, and how you have done things to help others in simple ways when they were close to despair. And when there was no one to turn to, how much did you love yourself, that you were willing to undergo suffering to find a solution?

Every day we can find a little gratitude for kindness, for our own ability to handle things, and we begin to see how easy life can be.

When you've said a phrase so many times, it's easy to forget its meaning. Take a moment to remember the depth and truth of this phrase: "Everything will be okay."