“I rid myself of doubts knowing that there is a valid reason for everything that happens.” Every morning I hear this in my morning meditation and every morning it soothes me.  Now I know immediately a skeptic is out there reading this one line saying “there is a valid reason for the Orlando shooting or the Paris massacre”, NO. I personally don’t look at it for that although some people can as a way to make sense of tragedy. For me, this line helps me make sense of my life. When I pray for things that don’t come or work out the way I hoped. Lesson 24 in my workbook of A Course in Miracles is I do not perceive my own best interest. I have learned this is 100% true. I think I know what will make me happy but 9 times out of 10 those things I want were superficial, materialistic and short term. I may have been happy receiving them but it was for fleeting moments. Think about this, your car. You get a new car the one you really wanted. Maybe prayed for it everyday for months. How long does the happiness of your new car last? Do you get in everyday and say, doesn’t matter what else happens today I have this new car nothing can make me unhappy? What about the big promotion with the big salary increase? Yes more money might make life easier but how long until the stress creeps in? How long until the weariness of the job sets in? The point is these are all nice things to have but they don’t sustain true happiness. That’s what I take to be the meaning of the lesson. As far as the quote, I believe the universe has not only your best interest but a game plan. Things that you want to happen don’t happen or happen differently so that other things can happen.

I know now you might be thinking yes that I can see we all probably have those fate stories maybe it’s regarding the job, significant other, house purchase etc., what about negative. This is how I see that.  I was working in the city and wanted to move from manager to training manager. This was the second company I was in I wanted this position. I never got it again and I was bummed.  At the same time in my life my daughter was diagnosed with EVAS which is enlarged vestibular aqueduct syndrome big words to mean my daughter was going deaf. She was not even 3. After multiple tests we decided and qualified for a cochlear implant for my daughter. She’d need speech lessons, she was at risk on ear infections she needed more immediate care and help. I had to leave the city job because I was too far away. Took a job with an accountant as a mini bookeeper/secretary. This job opened the door for me with a nursing home business office where I spent the next 13 years until my MS stopped me from working anymore. What would have happened if I got the training position? The manager position kept me in finance which was my strong point. It was that understanding that got me to get the job and excel with the account. It’s what I learned with the accountant that opened the door to finances in the nursing home. So who had the best interest for me? I was wrong. I would have been on a harder path with training as my background. Universe knew. So that negative, that promotion I didn’t get, the bigger picture was a very good reason.

You still might not believe this but I believe it. I know that everyone has that if I wasn’t running late that day story or the I never go home that way. I like knowing that there are reasons behind things both good and bad. When it’s the bad it’s because it needed to be for something better to come up or so you can learn something. I believe life has a valid reason. I don’t think we are put here haphazardly. I think there is meaning behind it all. If not well it’s definitely a happier way to look at things and that works too.  Happy hump day everyone.