| Saturday, 20 September 2008 |
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I apologize for the hiatus but life has been kinda keeping me busy for the past week. But it's all good, so I don't really mind. But anyway, back to our regularly scheduled blog, already in progress…
I'm not alone, I'm sure, in having gone through some rough financial patches in the past. The time I'm thinking about, however, about eighteen years ago, was particularly rough; after having left my husband I found myself on my own in Winnipeg with a newly diagnosed autistic two year old and her twelve year old sister, forced to try and provide for both of them with social assistance and not much else. As you can well imagine it wasn't exactly a picnic; although I did my best we went through some pretty lean times, especially during the 'adjustment period' while I was learning how to live on a lot less than I'd previously been accustomed to.
Those days are long behind me now, both my girls grown up, while only one of them gone. One thing I'm very proud of, my kids never missed a meal, no matter how tight things got. I have, on occasion, but they never did. Once, though, I was afraid I was not going to be able to keep the promise I made to them, and to myself they would never go without, when I found myself with bare cupboards and not a cent to my name the day before I was going to receive my monthly allotment, and then something really amazing happened not only enabling me to feed my kids that day, but it taught me a valuable and lasting lesson affecting my perceptions and the way I would view reality from that moment forward.
I don't remember where I was coming home from, but all I was thinking about was 'how am I going to feed my kids dinner tonight' when I looked down and right in front of me in the middle of the sidewalk was a five dollar bill. My world instantly went from desolate to triumphant; I scooped my prize and headed back out for the grocery store. Okay, five dollars wasn't a lot to work with, but it was more than enough for my purposes. I only needed to get through 'til the next day and it wouldn't have been the first time Hamburger Helper was the entrée on offer.
I continued on my way, very happy and grateful for the windfall. I considered myself extremely fortunate and blessed, but as I walked I started thinking about what had actually happened here. That money hadn't just appeared on the sidewalk out of thin air, in order for me to have found it; someone had to have lost it. My blessing was someone else's misfortune.
Yeah, I know, we're only talking five dollars here, but in that moment five dollars was a tremendous amount of money to me, and extremely important. It was literally the difference between my children going to bed hungry that night – and not. I put myself in the place of the person who'd lost it and fervently hoped it had not meant as much to them as it did to me. That their losing it didn't mean they'd been left with nothing.
I didn't want to gain at another's expense, plain and simple. And I didn't want to take without giving something back, even if it was only my gratitude. There was no possible way I could pay them back, or return the money to them if they needed it. I'd also never know if the loss had harmed them. So, I did the only thing I could think to do, I felt I was obligated to do. I thanked them for helping me, and hoped the universe would bless and recompense them for that money and more.
Still walking, still thinking. Why had what happened, happened? Why would the universe bless me at the cost of someone else? Did I deserve this money more than them? Did I need it more? I thought that was too simplistic a way of looking at it, and yet couldn't escape the feeling I was missing something important.
A single event. A five dollar bill lost and found. My gain, someone else's misfortune. Good for me, bad for them. It couldn't be both, and yet it would seem to be, depending on your perspective.
Maybe it was neither.
That's when I got it.
The five dollar bill was potential, plain and simple. An opportunity. Neither good nor bad. It simply was. How that event was perceived by the people it affected, how they thought about it, and what they did as a result of experiencing it – that's what made it 'good' or 'bad'.
Depending on your perspective.
Let me explain what I mean by opportunity. The universe knew I had a need, and it selected someone to supply it. By causing them to lose that money – an event they probably perceived as 'negative' – I was blessed. But…I wasn't the only one, because although my unknown benefactor probably didn't realize it, what the universe gave them by causing them to lose that money was an opportunity to do me - someone they would probably never meet – good.
They 'gained' an opportunity to bless me. Although they would never know it, the universe did. And…so did I.
So, because I recognized this, thanked them and blessed them for their unconscious generosity, they really didn't 'lose' anything. I'm sure they were recompensed because believe me; I spent most of that day blessing the heck out of them.
My point is everything happens for a reason, it's neither good nor bad, it's simply what it is; how you respond to it, colours it from your perspective. We are sent what we need to learn and grow, and what we manifest through our own thoughts and actions. We are the ones who put the value judgements on what happens to us and decide whether it is 'good' or 'bad'.
Naturally we tend to think of pleasant things that make us happy as 'good' and stuff that doesn't as 'bad', but if you can get past that, especially for the bad stuff, and view everything as simply an opportunity to learn because, I just demonstrated, even stuff we think of as 'bad' – really isn't – if you see it from a different perspective.
More on this next time, but for now, here's a thought; if you lose something, rather than getting all annoyed and angry with yourself, try thanking the universe for the opportunity it's given you to do someone else some good. Maybe what's passed out of your hands could really help someone else. Then let it go with thanks, and wait for something even better and brighter to come back to you.
It will, you know.
Blessings
Phoenix |
posted by The White Dove Partnership @ 15:32  |
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