No matter whom I talk to these days, it seems they are facing major events, from injuries and surgeries, to depression, financial woes, family disputes and more. We often respond to these challenges with negativity and fear. You can find meaning in the chaos. But what if there was actually organization in this chaos? What if there was a plan and that everything in front of you was actually for your benefit in some way? And all you need to do is look for that benefit. Stay tuned until the end of this article where you will find a link to a video guided meditation that will help you explore the benefits in your life to help you find meaning in the chaos.

“Opportunities do not come with their values stamped upon them…To face every opportunity of life thoughtfully and ask its meaning bravely and earnestly is the only way to meet the supreme opportunities when they come, whether open face or disguised.”  ~ Maltbie Davenport Babcock

Bringing New Perspective to the Past I challenge you to go back and explore some darker or negative event or time in your past. Maybe there was a specific tragedy or trauma. Consider: What choices did you make? What did you learn from the event about yourself or others, or life in general? Revisit it now. There’s more to learn with the blessing of hindsight. What could you have done differently? How did it make you stronger? How did it appear to weaken you? What did it force you to explore about yourself? What did you learn from the pain? Now ask what lessons from the meaning in the chaos you could apply to the future. Perhaps you look back on a time you were depressed and you see how the “sad” event actually created a positive outcome. Perhaps you see choices that you made along the way that encouraged you to stay depressed. You may see that you played sad music, wallowed in the sadness, kept “touching the bruise” by continually revisiting the issue in your mind, felt sorry for yourself, wanted others to feel sorry for you, or refused to move out of your pain until you felt someone else was punished enough. Learn from those choices and promise yourself not to make them again the next time a sad event occurs. Look back at all the time you spent in worry. Look at how many times the outcome you were worried about actually happened. My guess is not very often. Now look at how many times the outcome you feared happened, but led to something positive for you or others in the long run. My guess is that this did happen at times. Finally, look at how many times your worry actually affected the outcome positively. My guess is never. Your concerned guidance may have affected the outcome, but not your worry. Everything is on Purpose The place where it is often hardest to see the good is in death, and it seems that the closer the person is to you, the harder it is to see. We can’t see (yet, at least) why the other person needed to die. They may have needed to do something on the Other Side. They may have needed relief from this life. They may have fulfilled the reason they came here for. Or their soul may have recognized that they were off track and were not going to meet their purpose for coming. The soul is focused on growth and doesn’t get tied up in all the issues that we do. It makes the choices that are needed and sometimes the choice is ending this life. So we can’t really know why the person had to go, but we can take a look at what opportunities this loss presents. We know the losses and the pain and I am not trying to minimize them. It is important to take time to go through the mourning process and to honor those emotions and allow them to fully pass through. You can dwell in the pain or you can move on to looking for the opportunities. Granted, I understand that these may be changes that you never wanted. You would have chosen your loved one instead. I get that. But that’s not the way it played out. Take a look at what has changed. What can be done now that could not be done before or would not have been done before? What are we “forced” to do now because of new financial or social circumstances? What aspects of ourselves can we no longer help but look at? Where do we need to become stronger? What new path seems to be emerging? Look for any signs of purpose or potential joy on this new path. Often our anger and sadness stops us from pursuing these new paths, even though they may lead to somewhere positive. Remember that the soul is pushing us toward growth. Follow that growth. Explore the Present to Create the Future Now let’s look at present circumstances with a view toward creating a desirable future. What is the meaning in the chaos? In this “perfect chaos” of your life, you have the opportunity to create something new, something better. For a few minutes, sit and think about the present. Think about the things that you do not like or do not seem optimal. List what aspects of yourself they are forcing into the light. Be brutally honest with yourself: “They are showing me I’m being lazy, they are highlighting that I always see the negative.” Write it all down. Next, explore where these revelations are suggesting you go or what you need to change in order to get the outcome you really desire in your life. Now, make a plan for the future. Write down the concrete physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual changes you will make to create the life you desire. Make a commitment to yourself to repeat these steps regularly to remain positive about your life and the “chaos” you find yourself in and to continually improve and evolve as a human being. Over time, you will notice that this way of thinking about life’s circumstances becomes second nature. In the midst of any life event, you stop for a moment to become the witness and ask, “What’s here for me?” “How does this actually benefit me and those around me?” Worst Case Scenario Even if I am wrong and there is no purpose to the events in life, and there is no soul and therefore no soul desire for evolution, there is no down side. Living life in the way I suggest encourages you to live life more fully and more positively. What can be wrong with that? Here is the link to a video that will explore these concepts further and a meditation that will help you to find the benefits to past and current situations to improve the future: https://youtu.be/hInpRrv3BDI Views:]]>