#350 – What does seeing the gift in everything really mean?
If you think it's just the silver lining, think again
When was the last time you politely accepted a present but then frantically tried to return it or even re-gift it?
Well, life is like that sometimes.
Take me, for example. When I was born, my parents were excited: I came with my round, peachy head, perfectly delineated lips, and rosy cheeks. I was a gift, they felt, as they looked at each other raptured with love.
Until I opened my eyes and, bummer, I was severely cross-eyed.
Do you think they wanted to give me back just because of that little defect? No! (True, they went to great lengths to fix my eyes with expensive surgeries and therapies that caused only disappointment and made me feel faulty for all my childhood and teenage years––but that's another story.)
What I mean is that gifts aren't always "good" or "positive." And it's not always the case that "something good will come out of them."
Sometimes something "shitty" happens and we hate it and would rather it didn't happen. And then something else happens and it feels like it's crap piling on top of more crap and when will we get out of this misery?
But then it turns out we needed that thing because without it, we wouldn't have taken the step we needed to take––for example, to quit a toxic relationship, a soul-crushing job, an addiction.
So, seeing a gift in everything doesn't mean to see the positive in every negative situation.
It means to accept everything with an open heart, knowing that, even if we don't understand yet why it's come to us, it's here for us because we need it.
“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 will you accept as a gift, even if it now feels "unfair," "shitty," or "destructive?"
Love,
Carolina