"Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you."
— Epictetus
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You ever say to someone, to an uncaring world, to an unseen and harsh supreme in the sky that you’re shaking your fist at, “It’s not fair!” …?
Of course we have. Why just the other day, I was resisting the urge to do that with this flu that just wouldn’t go away.
I had life to live! And anytime I pushed the energy, I’d start coughing and end up in bed. Again.
We have all had our plans thwarted, our happiness and peace of mind destroyed, things lost and our loved ones taken away from us.
But here’s the thing that will help you enormously when you see it.
Life is not fair … but it IS trying to show us something.
Now upon reading this, you might prefer to go on blaming everyone and everything outside of yourself for how you feel — and I wouldn’t blame you.
“Life should be fair!!”
If you excuse me though, it’s a somewhat childish assertion.
My kids say this all the time, but they also don’t see the big picture.
And that’s what we don’t see: The true big picture for our lives either.
Maybe there are forces beyond our control working on our lives and the lives of others?
Whatever –
Assume what is being presented to you is an education and invitation: to show you more: What if it was all good?
You can rage against the things you can’t control, or make peace with them.
It’s a hard jump to make, but I think so often life asks that you do.
Make peace with your world and your focus is freed.
Even in the middle of the greatest catastrophe, you can notice what you approve of, what you like, what is beautiful about the moment you find yourself in.
Through this gratitude you are given creativity, options, energy.
You are freed to have fresh ideas and fresh perspectives. To learn to play the long game. To ride out, with tenacity and persistence, whatever is coming at you. To have a sense of humour, no matter what. To enjoy the small things.
You’re constantly choosing your attitude to everything that happens, so you might as well make it enjoyable. You might as well have a degree of peace in the chaos.
Look –
Life is wanting to stretch our horizons, to make us bigger, to set us free.
It wants us to wake up and see that ultimately life is actually extremely fair – it’s just we don’t know the master plan.
You can safely assume there is one, and all of life is how you live this out.
Will you take the invitation?
Go well,
Arjuna
PS.
I am slowly recovering from my flu, and I know a bunch of you are waiting for dates for courses this year.
Apologies – I really have been sledgehammered, but our venue is having some sledgehammer type alterations too.
Thanks so much for your patience. Coming soon!