"Life will give you whatever experience is the most helpful for Evolution of your consciousness" ~ Eckhart Tolle
That's a mouthful. Sounds really heavy. Does it come with handles?
This is one of those quotes that popped up in a Facebook newsfeed, and I liked it since it aligned with something I had said earlier to someone. We have to go through struggles in life in order to get to the next place where we need to be. It's as if we walk into the storm and when it's over, we may be drenched, but we can better appreciate the blue skies.
There's a bit of comfort in a saying like this that the "universe" or "life" is doling out these situations, and it's not our fault. Rather than saying "why me?", it gives us permission to release the reigns of control and be more accepting of the situation. Of course there's free will over our lives. And it's at that point, we can say "yes, this is part of my own path in life and I need to handle this."
This is not to say, we just accept it as "shit happens". It's the second part of the quote - Evolution of your consciousness. That part is saying "Yes, shit happened but I can either keep standing in it or move on." Hopefully within those tough moments, there's a learning and defining experience that pushes us to grow. I hate to say the cliche "things happen for a reason." Horrible things happen such as a critically ill child or a sudden car accident, for which there's no reasonable or logical explanation to justify the pain. However, from those challenging experiences, we grow resilience, patience and strength in adversity. Our perspective changes on defining priorities.
This quote also reminds me of how we meet certain people at a time in our lives even though our paths could have crossed earlier. Had we met them the first time, we might've been blinded by stereotypes or preconceptions. We may have had negative traits that would've repelled them. Our relationship would have been totally different, or at least forgettable. However, we meet when we are supposed to meet - when we are more "wiser" and open to them.
I have to reiterate the timing part of things. It will happen when it's supposed to happen and those will need to be there for you will show up. And that always cracks me up about life - stop trying to plan and control! One example I recall is for my wedding. My hair stylist was having a baby and cancelled the last week. An old acquaintance offered to help, and she ended up helping me all day in so many ways. All of the family and close friends I had expected and appointed to help were in different places. So, the person I least expected is the one who stays in my memory the longest.
That's one story, but a more significant experience occurred recently. I had to face an ordeal without my partner. I had given him permission not to be there and he felt guilty for not being present. There were mixed emotions and comments about our decision. However, I realized afterwards that was my journey without his participation and influence. Had he been there, my decisions and actions would have been greatly different. His life journey required him to be elsewhere, laying the foundation for his own path.
My personal evolution called for me to be resourceful to find strength and support through a network of family and friends. I was required to step into a different and difficult role. It wasn't the situation anyone would have planned. And, like my wedding, the unexpected people came forward and everyone was in the place they needed to be.
Going through this particular storm, we learned a lot about ourselves and our life choices.Waking up in the morning and facing the day with positivity is a choice and it impacts the rest of our actions.
We never stop evolving and growing. We have to change the pace of our stride depending on our particular journey.
Even this article needed its own maturation. I had drafted this months ago, but felt it inadequate. Today I was able to spell my message clearly and release this post.
That's a mouthful. Sounds really heavy. Does it come with handles?
This is one of those quotes that popped up in a Facebook newsfeed, and I liked it since it aligned with something I had said earlier to someone. We have to go through struggles in life in order to get to the next place where we need to be. It's as if we walk into the storm and when it's over, we may be drenched, but we can better appreciate the blue skies.
There's a bit of comfort in a saying like this that the "universe" or "life" is doling out these situations, and it's not our fault. Rather than saying "why me?", it gives us permission to release the reigns of control and be more accepting of the situation. Of course there's free will over our lives. And it's at that point, we can say "yes, this is part of my own path in life and I need to handle this."
This is not to say, we just accept it as "shit happens". It's the second part of the quote - Evolution of your consciousness. That part is saying "Yes, shit happened but I can either keep standing in it or move on." Hopefully within those tough moments, there's a learning and defining experience that pushes us to grow. I hate to say the cliche "things happen for a reason." Horrible things happen such as a critically ill child or a sudden car accident, for which there's no reasonable or logical explanation to justify the pain. However, from those challenging experiences, we grow resilience, patience and strength in adversity. Our perspective changes on defining priorities.
This quote also reminds me of how we meet certain people at a time in our lives even though our paths could have crossed earlier. Had we met them the first time, we might've been blinded by stereotypes or preconceptions. We may have had negative traits that would've repelled them. Our relationship would have been totally different, or at least forgettable. However, we meet when we are supposed to meet - when we are more "wiser" and open to them.
I have to reiterate the timing part of things. It will happen when it's supposed to happen and those will need to be there for you will show up. And that always cracks me up about life - stop trying to plan and control! One example I recall is for my wedding. My hair stylist was having a baby and cancelled the last week. An old acquaintance offered to help, and she ended up helping me all day in so many ways. All of the family and close friends I had expected and appointed to help were in different places. So, the person I least expected is the one who stays in my memory the longest.
That's one story, but a more significant experience occurred recently. I had to face an ordeal without my partner. I had given him permission not to be there and he felt guilty for not being present. There were mixed emotions and comments about our decision. However, I realized afterwards that was my journey without his participation and influence. Had he been there, my decisions and actions would have been greatly different. His life journey required him to be elsewhere, laying the foundation for his own path.
My personal evolution called for me to be resourceful to find strength and support through a network of family and friends. I was required to step into a different and difficult role. It wasn't the situation anyone would have planned. And, like my wedding, the unexpected people came forward and everyone was in the place they needed to be.
Going through this particular storm, we learned a lot about ourselves and our life choices.Waking up in the morning and facing the day with positivity is a choice and it impacts the rest of our actions.
We never stop evolving and growing. We have to change the pace of our stride depending on our particular journey.
Even this article needed its own maturation. I had drafted this months ago, but felt it inadequate. Today I was able to spell my message clearly and release this post.
spot on!!! :)
ReplyDelete~Naimesh