A silver lining is an advantage that comes from a difficult or unpleasant situation. Or according to Wikipedia, it is a metaphor for optimism in the common English language, which means a negative occurrence may have a positive aspect to it.
It's not an idiom that I use often. This is probably the first time I use it in my morning posts. It came up a few days ago during a conversation when a friend made me notice that the shortage of gas due to the war in Ukraine is accelerating the transition to green energy in many European countries. So, we spoke about how the pandemic has forced many organizations to rethink how they work. How often brilliant innovations do emerge during economic crises.
Same thing in our personal lives.
If we can find the opportunity hidden in a difficult situation, the silver lining, we may boost our process of flourishing.
Finding that hidden opportunity may not be easy. But knowing that it's there, even when I can't see it, it's often enough to give me the strength to go through trouble times.
This morning, my mind was dry. I was almost giving up on my morning apple when I remembered that I noted the idiom "silver lining" in some corner of my mind a few days ago. So, like I often do with words I don't use regularly, I checked online to be sure about the meaning.
I discovered that the idiom "silver lining" was used for the first time in a poem titled Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle by John Milton in 1634. Isn’t that a bit of a silver lining?
I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were
To keep my life and honor unassailed.
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.