Does The Coronavirus Have A Silver Lining? Tragedy's Secret Gifts

A trauma victim, survivor, and life coach reveals personal lessons learned in the midst of tragic life experiences.

Tragedy's silver lining. Does it sound preposterous, even disrespectful, to say "in the midst of tragedy, opportunities abound"? Well, it's true. There is nothing alright about losing precious lives. So where's the silver lining? The answer lies in what we can learn from experiencing life's tragic events. And, given the preponderance of tragedies, we better learn what there is to learn from them.

Surviving catastrophic tragedy. If I was ever to survive the tragedy of losing my wife, after she was brutally bludgeoned to death by her eldest son, I needed to find a hopeful side to that horrid event. Discovering what that glimmer of light could possibly be, in the midst of such darkness, escaped me for many years. As Viktor Frankl said, "everybody in the midst of suffering is given a chance to bear testimony of the human potential at its best, which is to turn a personal tragedy into a human triumph."

We get to choose our world. The good news is that we get to choose the world in which we live. Love over hate. Kindness over selfishness. Gratitude over self-pity. Forgiveness over anger. Human connection over isolation. We don't have to go through life on autopilot. When we take responsibility for our lives, it becomes empowering to realize that we are not helpless.

Be still. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, many of us have been given the gift of living in a quieter world. Let's take advantage of it. Meditate. Write in a journal. Practice gratitude, mindfulness, and self-compassion. Practice yoga. Sing. Dance. Create. Immerse yourself in nature. It's comforting to know that all that we need is already inside us and that, even in the midst of tragedy, we can find reasons to be hopeful.

Tragedy breaks us open. The shattering of our world provides the opportunity to start life anew; to see more clearly, or perhaps for the first time; to re-define ourselves; to realign our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with what feels right to our authentic selves — now, in the present. Each day is a new day. Now's the time for more expressed gratitude; more love and kindness; and more volunteerism and philanthropy. These horrid times may provide us with new personal growth that creates unforeseen opportunities ahead. And that's the silver lining of tragedy.