Life happens for you not to you

Life happens for you not to you. 

Not long ago I awoke to a kind of challenge I’d never faced before.  

It kinda brought me to my knees. It made me question what I thought to be true about myself. Did I have the fortitude to face it?  

The very next day I came upon these words in an email.  

"John, don't forget...everything serves to wake you up. Especially the stuff that seems hard and scary. All you have to do is let it."  

And so I thought I'd share those words with you, sweet friend. Just in case you find yourself in a similar place.  

Use them today or tuck them away for some future need like a letter in a bottle that washes up on your shore at just the right moment.  

Either way, let them remind you that life is never happening to you - it is always happening *for* you.  

You have but to see it that way.  

"Whatever obstacles we experience, if we can take them the right way, they won’t obstruct our spiritual path. Rather, they will become a tool to stimulate our advancement toward our destination: unconditional love and enlightenment.  

So try to feel joy when facing difficulties, for they provide the chance to purify unvirtuous past deeds, the cause of ills, and infuse us with the inspiration to generate yet greater virtuous deeds, the cause of healing and enlightenment.  

If your mental and emotional problems could become an inspiration for your spiritual progress, make a point to recognize them as such. That recognition will, in turn, fuel joy and inspiration in your mind.  

If you nurture and strengthen that joy by enjoying it again and again, you unleash the true healing energy of joy. With that, you can prevent anything from turning into an obstacle. But this is not just about averting challenges so they don’t harm you. It is about transmuting problems so that they fuel your healing momentum." (Tulku Thondup Rinpoche) 

Bam! I have read and reread those paragraphs, studying them so that I can apply the wisdom.  

May I suggest you do too? (Side note: Taking action on wisdom is the only way to embody that wisdom. Otherwise it's just another pretty idea-flower stuck in a vase and left on a shelf to wilt in the sun.)  

Of everything I have studied about growth and transformation, the practice of seeing difficulties as opportunity is the one that has the greatest impact. It has turned my approach to life on its head.  

It's the one that has allowed me to drop my shoulders and live more and more from a place of true joy. Not the veneer, fake-smile, I'll-get-through-it-all kind of joy - the real kind that heals and inspires my mind and those around me.  

And so, here's to us. May we live in the truth that it's all happening to wake us up - every single bit of it. And may we use our awakened state to bring healing to all beings in all directions.  

Love to you, JohnnyD

Photo credit: Julian Wan  

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