There is a story about the first elephant born in human captivity.

The owner of the herd is initially delighted by the birth, but then watches in horror as the elephants form a circle and throw the newborn calf from one side to another. At first he fears they are trying to kill the newborn, but soon discovers that they are only trying to help it begin breathing and deepen its breaths.

Sometimes, at the beginning of a new stage in life and in the process of our psychological growth, we undergo a similar experience.
Life throws us from one corner to another, strikes us hard against the ground, and we experience great pain and suffering under its blows, as though life had resolved to destroy us. Yet the truth is that these blows are necessary and unavoidable if we are to begin breathing within a new self and enter the process of growth.

Through the pain and suffering of these blows we give depth and strength to our breathing and to the new self into which we have been born—a self that must live in a world requiring deeper breaths.

Aydin Areta