Things Happen For a Reason
Have you ever had something happen and you were so upset, only to realize that later, if that same something didn’t happen, something else positive in your life wouldn’t have happened?
Let me give you an example.
When I was 16, with 16-year old hormones, a friend I was supposed to hang out with blew me off. I’m sure it involved hanging out with boys and I was upset my plans got messed up. Pretty upset…as in, I thought my world was going to end. Come to find out, my parents were throwing a surprise party for me and my best friend and if I had gone to hang out with my other friend, I would’ve missed it all, or my parents would’ve had to let me in on their plans. I remember dressing in a dumpy outfit as they asked me to come with them somewhere: “Wouldn’t you like to change your outfit?” I wasn’t in the mood to get all dressed up. When I got to the party, I was embarrassed that I had basically dressed in pajamas, and felt bad for my sour mood.
Oops.
Grateful.
Imagine if instead, I hadn’t moped around, and thought immediately to myself, “Hmmm, there must’ve been a reason that I just got dissed. But you can’t tell that to a 16-year-old.
Lately I’ve been thinking about expectations and when those expectations aren’t met. In the past, if expectations weren’t met, there’d be feelings of sadness, discouragement, depression, etc. But more recently instead of letting these feelings creep in, I’ll try to stop and say to myself, “Higher self, Angels, Universe, please show me signs that something else is meant to be,” and it’s amazing how that simple saying grounds me in the present moment without wallowing in what I had hoped would happen.
In my business we talk about reaching out to people with the intention of giving, serving and educating, without any attachment to the outcome. And life should be that way too. Give. Serve. Educate…then let go.
Have you ever come across a bit of reading that was just so totally relevant? I’d recently been hurting in the heart department. I came across a reading that talked about Love, Self-respect, and being Quiet to listen more to my heart and to do what is best for me. Perhaps this reading wasn’t geared toward me specifically…but what if it was?
Part of this reading talked about only using loving words, and not engaging in any pessimistic or negative conversation – not with myself, or anyone else. So that’s what I’ve been doing. That article seemed to be written directly to me. And even though I know it technically wasn’t, I can’t help but feel that it came exactly at the right time and for the right reasons.
So lately I’ve been trying to really pay attention to things that happen, and not to judge them or to become angered by them (even though the conversation could be something that could have easily angered me) but rather to stop in quietude, observe, and to tell myself that this is happening for a reason; that this moment has presented itself as my teacher; that from this resistant situation will come something good.
Perhaps you don’t think everything happens for a reason. Perhaps it does and perhaps it doesn’t. But when you think in these terms, it’s much easier to not let emotions get the best of us. It’s much easier to stay grounded in the present – the only moment that ever is, ever was, and ever will be. And it seems that when things happen for a reason, and we start to allow our heart to smile with whatever situation occurs, we’re able to live with a little more certainty, a lot less disappointment.
Om namah
Listen to Jennie’s original song, “Did This for a Reason” on CD Baby.