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

Allowing What Is To Be

Have you ever considered how life would be different if you allowed what is in this moment to be rather than resisting what is?

It is a topic that has come to my attention many times in life, and at times I thought I would understand and do my best to let go. Then I became aware that yes it is easier to let go than to hold on, and it is totally effortless to allow and observe what unfolds. And the funny this is, what is - IS in this moment, whether you allow it or not.

How do tall palms resist the wind? We often resist situations that arise in our lives, because we don’t like them or they don’t fit into our plans, yet the truth is, what is in this moment- IS! No amount of not liking it will change what IS in this moment, though our attitude towards what is can have a dramatic impact on our experience of what we are experiencing.

A recent experience has reinforced this truth in my life experience. I became suddenly very tired, though with workshops to run and speaking events approaching, I ignored these signs and pushing against them. Until the tiredness became so overwhelming that a blood test result revealed an autoimmune disorder. When I finally stopped, the stopping resulting in 2 months of sleeping 14 – 20 hours a day, still with some resistance.

The interesting part of this experience is that it was not until I stopped struggling with the illness, and my beliefs around what illness meant, that my body began to show signs of healing.

By opening to the experience of physical illness, there has been so many learning’s revealed to me, that otherwise I would not have seen. It reminded me that;

I am not the mind
I am not the body
I am not my emotions
I am not my thoughts

So who am I?

Who is it that observes the body, mind, thoughts and emotions?

The more that you become aware of that which observes all in this gift called life, the greater the experience of this life as a gift.
Just for this moment, stop and turn awareness to awareness itself. That which is aware of deep sleep, that which is aware of the coming and goings of thoughts and emotions.

What is - IS!

What is - IS! There is no effort involved in what is, the only effort is the resistance. The resistance can come in many forms, including comparisons.

As humans we are gifted with intellect yet that gift we often turn against ourselves and compare ourselves to others and where we think we should or could be, rather than accepting and loving where we are now, allowing that to unfold and reveal to us the magic of the moment.

The infinite moment

There is only this moment, the infinite moment. Allow yourself to experience it fully by allowing the emotions to rise and fall as they do. Stop, even for just a 1/4 of a second and welcome the emotions as the rise. Be still. Observe the emotion, even take the name of emotions off it and observe the energy moving. It will take less than a second, and in such a brief moment, such wonderment can be revealed to those whom are watching.

A battery is charged with both a positive negative energy, both equally important. As we humans have both positive and negative emotions, both have significant importance also. Though as a culture, we do our very best to push away our negative emotions and slap on a happy face. Negative emotions play an important role within this experience of life; they are wonderful indicators of what is happening at a subconscious level. The key is to allow the emotions to be here and pass through without the attachment to the story of why the emotions came about.

Allow judgements to fall away

Observe judgements and let them drop away. When you find yourself saying this is right or wrong, allow it to simply BE as it is, neither right nor wrong.

What is - IS in this moment. Allowing it to be here, without judgement, simply observing opens your experience of life to wonderful new understandings of this gift called the present moment.