Philosopher Alan Watts once told this story:
Once there was a farmer whose horse ran away. That evening, his neighbors came around to sympathize. “We’re so sorry your horse ran away,” they said. “That is unfortunate.”
The farmer responded, “Maybe.”
The next day the horse returned and brought with it seven wild horses. Then everyone came back and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky. Now you have eight horses! What a great turn of events!”
Again the farmer said, “Maybe.”
The next day, while trying to break one of the horses, the farmer’s son was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbors then said, “Oh that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded, “Maybe.”
The next day conscription officers came to take young men into the army, but they rejected his son because of his broken leg. Again the neighbors came around and said, “Isn’t that great?” And again, all the farmer said was, “Maybe.”
Watts concluded: “Nature is an integrated process of immense complexity, and it’s really impossible to tell whether anything that happens is good or bad — because you never know what the consequence of the misfortune or the consequences of good fortune will be.”
The Beautiful Road
About a month ago, I started writing The Beautiful Road (coming later this year!), but I think I’ve been writing this book my whole life. The full title is The Beautiful Road: The crazy, gorgeous, bumpy, winding, scary, gritty, exciting journey to joy.
And the idea is that, just like in Watts’ story of the farmer, some good experiences don’t feel good while they’re happening, but when we look back, we realize how important and valuable they were.
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- Sometimes a closed door is a blessing. We look back and see that door opened onto a seriously unhealthy path.
- Tough situations really do toughen us. It’s impossible to learn things like patience, perseverance, and compassion if everything is always handed to us.
- We grow in confidence when we sweat our way out of a jam and develop some “if-I-can-handle-that-I-can-handle-anything” self-assurance.
“I threw his keys down the toilet”
It reminds me of a story Oprah Winfrey told about the time someone was ending a relationship with her. “I begged him not to leave,” she said. “I pleaded with him to stay. I threw his keys down the toilet so he couldn’t leave! To this day, I thank God he left.”
So I want to dedicate this July to seeing what’s possible when we adjust our vision with tools like good perspective, great questions, and true-life stories of determination and unexpected joy.
When we do, beautiful someone, I really believe the sky’s the limit. Nothing can stop us if we don’t let it. Everything is a learning experience because nothing is wasted along The Beautiful Road.
How far we’ve come
And when we look back at how far we’ve come, we see that it was all perfect. It all had to happen just the way it did because it brought us here now, stronger and smarter than ever.
Maybe we can even take a soul-strengthening verse out of Ariana Grande’s song, Yes, and?
In case you haven’t noticed
Well, everybody’s tired
And healin’ from somebody
Or somethin’ we don’t see just right
Boy, come on, put your lipstick on
Come on and walk this way through the fire
And if you find yourself in a dark situation
Just turn on your light and be like
“Yes, and?”…keep moving like, “What’s next?”
#MindsetMatters #PositiveMindset #ManifestingMagic #SuccessMindset