How is this happening for me?

"Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don't have to like it... it's just easier if you do." —Byron Katie

What if everything happening in your life is happening for you? What if every challenge, setback, or outright disaster is actually in your highest good? That all of your experiences and circumstances are there for you to learn and grow and become the best version of yourself?

It's true. Well, not capital "T" truth. It's true if you believe in it, like magic or the existence of the elusive Sasquatch. Only, believing that everything is happening for you is much more useful than believing a large, hairy biped is out wandering the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Just the opposite can be true—if you believe it. You could believe that everything is happening to you. That you are a victim of your experience and circumstance. Believing this, you may even say to yourself "the world is out to get me!" This could also be true—if you believe it.

"The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or as a curse." —Don Juan Matus

You can choose to believe you are a victim of life or you can believe that the world—the Universe—is benevolent and providing you with the exact experiences and circumstances that you need to grow, learn, evolve and transcend.

Whichever you choose to believe—and it is a choice—your mind will work to confirm it. Say you have a setback at work, maybe a supplier falls through, or a competitor goes after your customer-base or whatever. If you believe you are a victim of life, your mind will use this experience as another tally on the scoreboard of suck. You will have a negative mindset, which will limit what you think is possible in the situation.

If, however, you believe life is always happening for you, your mind is primed to look for the silver lining or hidden opportunities. Even though it feels like a headache, maybe finding a new supplier will vastly improve the quality of your product, or your margins, or whatever. Or, maybe you reevaluate who you market to, or how you position your product. Or, maybe you realize you don't like your work anyway and have been itching to try something new.

Or, maybe, you simply use a setback as a chance to mature and learn to handle the situation with grace, dignity and stoicism. You still have your preferences, like not having suppliers drop the ball or not stepping in doggy doo-doo, which you acknowledge, "this is not my preference," and then ask yourself "how is this happening for me?"

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." —Wayne Dyer

When you step in canine caca or spill coffee on your new crisp white shirt, maybe it's a reminder not to take life too seriously to laugh at yourself from time to time. You can choose to take it as an opportunity to cultivate grace and humility.

"For an average man, the world is weird because if he's not bored with it, he's at odds with it. For a warrior, the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable. A warrior must assume responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous time." —Don Juan Matus

So, which do you want to believe? That the world is happening to you, or, that life is happening for you? You can choose—if you make the effort to do so.

And yes, I did have an encounter with dog poop recently, thank you for asking. 💩