“If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?”
— Rumi
Ah, Rumi … beautifully to the point once again.
There is so much in life that could annoy us. The world is not a perfect place, it’s not fair by any means. Painful events and people will happen.
It’s inevitable – so what can you do?
The fact is that life, seen correctly, is a training ground. Life wants to teach you how to live it with grace and style, which is awesome isn’t it?
The manual is built in, and our job is to find it.
Our job seems to be to see life as for our benefit, for our highest good. From this, our job is learning how to make the most of what we’ve been given.
I don’t think it’s naive to have an attitude of,
“Good! This is happening for a reason. I may not know that reason, but I’ll make the most of it, for sure” – I think it’s smart.
It is extremely possible that everything that happens to you is happening for you.
You can point the finger and get uppity at the person or the event, or … you can make something from it.
It’s happening anyway, right? So why not learn to see it as a benefit, as a feature you haven’t learnt to work just yet?
The beauty of this is that you free yourself from the past, you don’t carry it.
All those bozos out there? You don’t allow them to live in your head. You don’t carry regret or frustration about what has happened. You can leave the past where it is.
You shake your head and get present, free to experience “What Now?” with zero resistance.
Here lies peace, contentment and happiness, freedom from fear, anger, anxiety and negativity.
So if you’re having a tough time? Surrender to it. Instead, ask yourself “How can I make the most of this?”.
Here’s a further step, if you like:
Life wants you to shine. If you’re being rubbed up often, choose to see it as the fast path to absolute shiny-ness.
And the really cool thing?
“Thank you!” – or at least, “How interesting, I did not plan this!’ – becomes your response, not “Ah man, why me, again?”.
This is going to take practice.
It’s a kind of fitness, it’s a skill – it’s training. You won’t fall into it by mistake. It won’t happen by wishful thinking.
By prioritising it, everything is coming to you, and fast.
Surrender, surrender, surrender.
Good luck, have fun and go well!
Arjuna