By Mark Bowness

Crash. Bang. Reality. As I woke up, a dark misty haze was swirling around my mind. The moment that I recognized that I was in a hospital bed, the events of the past 24 hours came flooding through my mind. I had tried to take my own life. At the age of 26 years old, my marriage had ended, and along with it, the non- profit organization that I had worked so passionately to grow, was pulled from under me. At that moment in time, living ceased to be an option.

After a seven-year relationship, my wife had walked out of the door, never to return–and as I sat in our apartment surrounded by everything we had built together, the future looked dark and overwhelming It was a future that I was certain I was not willing to endure. I turned to Google and keyed in the words “most painless and quickest way to kill myself.”

I will always maintain that my attempt at wiping my existence off the face of the planet was the best thing to happen to me; it totally changed my life. Whether it’s the end of a relationship, the struggle to get a job, or an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and lack of direction, we all experience “dark moments” in life. It is these most difficult times that can turn out to be the most profound.

Let me share with you four ways that your darkest moments could be the making of your life, should you choose to see this as a new doorway.

Forced self-intimacy

When life takes you to the darkest places, absolutely no one around you can understand how you feel or what you are going through. Others may have had a similar experience, but only you can react to your situations the way that you do. During our tough times, we are forced to stare at ourselves eye-ball to eye-ball, as though we are standing in the mirror and gazing deep into our very soul. As we engage in these moments of forced self-intimacy, we make crucial decisions that redefine who we are, what we want and what we are willing to accept or not accept for our lives. It is the choices that we are forced to make, during this dark period, that lay the foundation of our powerful life change.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this article shortly…..

– Mark Bowness is passionate about changing people’s lives. After trying to take his own life, he made a New Year’s Resolution to totally turn his life around, and only three months later, he had created an international business which was featured in media around the world and became a five-part time series that aired in the UK, America and Australia on BBC. This year Mark has brought together 31 life-change experts who have created a FREE eBook, Webinar and community that will empower YOU to radically transform your life in 2014. Register for free NOW: www.joinanewyearsrevolution.com