Blessings In Disguise

With so many people going through incredible change at the moment, such as financial changes, relationships ending, jobs ending, I find myself thinking of a story that Osho shares.

It goes something like this;

There was a man who owned a beautiful horse, many people, including Emperors had offered him large amounts of money to buy this horse, and he always declined.

One morning he awoke to find the horse had been stolen. The town folk came together to console the man saying, “This is terrible. Many people offered you a lot of money and you wouldn’t sell the horse and now it has been stolen and you could have had all that money. You will never see the horse again”.

To which the man replied “Don’t be silly. All we know for now is that the horse is not in the stable. I do not know what the future will bring, lets wait and see what happens”.

Fourteen days later, the horse returned to the man, and had brought along 12 other beautiful horses with it.

Again the town fold gathered, this time to celebrate with the man. “You are very clever, we did not know what would happen. Now the horse has returned and brought you 12 other horses, you will be rich”.

To which the man replied “Let’s not get ahead of the situation. All we know for now is the horse has returned and brought 12 other horses with it”.

The next morning, the man’s son broke his leg whilst breaking in one of the new horses. The town folk came together to console the man. “How terrible. We are so sorry for you. Your son has broken his leg and now he will be a cripple”.

To which the man replied “Don’t jump ahead. Only say this much, my son has broken his leg – that’s all.”

The following day the government came to town and forcibly took all of the healthy young men from their families to fight the war.

The townfolk came together to see the man “You are so very wise. All our sons have been taken to war. The enemy is much stronger and all of our sons will probably be killed. In our old age, we will have nobody to look after us. You still have your son, even though he is crippled, you still have him here.”

But the man said, “Say this much – that your sons have been taken by the government. My son has been left, but there is no conclusion!”

State the fact. The relationship has ended. The job has finished. What comes from that, no one knows… so lets just wait and see what happens.

Don’t see things as a curse or a blessing. Don’t interpret it and suddenly everything is beautiful.

“What seems to us bitter trials is often blessings in disguise” Oscar Wilde

How not to be stressed

If you are like most people, being stressed is quiet easy. So how do you not be stressed in day to day life?

Be in this moment... yes this moment, not tomorrow, or yesterday, right here in this moment.

John Lennon said it well when he sang,

"Life is what happens to you,
when you are busy making other plans".

Stress is what happens when the mind begins to project the past into the future, suddenly you feel your body tighten and you become and feel uptight.


The mind is made up of memories, so when you have a problem, be that a new or old problem, the mind goes searching through its recorded memories to find a solution. If it cannot find an answer it will then project the past into the future. And the past may not have even been something that you personally experienced; it may be from a story you were told or even a TV program that you viewed. It's all there, recorded in the mind.

Really the mind is saying, "I don't have an answer", yet you still find yourself looking to the mind for an answer. As Larry Crane says,

it's a little like if you kept looking into an empty filing cabinet over and over again...it's empty.

So how do you stop stressing and find the answers you are looking for?

(1) "Can you let go of trying to figure this out?"

My first suggestion is to ask yourself "Can I let go of trying to figure this out?" . Now this is a decision, and because you no longer wish to feel stressed, the answer will of course be "yes".

(2) "Become focussed in the NOW"

The next thing is to check in and see what is here in this moment, is there any of that problem here right now? You might still think there is, but check and see is that problem here right now? What is here now, in this moment?

When the mind is living in the horizontal world, as in the past and future, it is busy, noisy and constantly trying to conceptualise and develop strategies for the future. In this mind set, you are most likely missing the beauty of the present, through being occupied in the future, which may not even come.

When you bring your awareness to this moment, the vertical world, you will notice a sense of calm and stillness. The mind at first, will probably pop in and tell you “This is boring this quietness, nothing can be accomplished here” I am going to suggest that you observe any thoughts of this nature and simply allow them to pass through. Enjoy the calmness.

You might then like to spend some time in this space, you could even call it meditation time, where you simply observe your thoughts as though you were watching clouds passing across the sky. Just watching, nothing to change. Notice how the thoughts pass by. And if you find your mind chasing any thoughts, as soon as you become aware of that occurring, bring your attention back to your breath, and the space between each breath.

(3) Enjoy that space, the calmness
which is at your core!

These simple questions can assist you to start experiencing more of your true self and the bonus can be that incredibly the answers to your problems start to reveal themselves in perfect time. You will notice that answers will start to appear in ways you have never thought of, intuitive flashes, inspiration or random acts of kindness appear.

The true beauty is the awareness of each moment and the gift that this moment presents, when you are present.