Is the Universe a friendly universe?
the single most important decision any of us will ever make
I watched a movie last night free on Amazon Prime called, The Secret, dare to dream. In it, the protagonist quoted Einstein as stating that the single most important decision any of us will ever make is whether or not to believe that the universe is friendly. He added that our response to this question would pretty much would spell out how we live life. LOVED THIS SO MUCH!! I love neatly packaged messages such as this one, so visceral, so exact and poignant.
Then, this morning my son was frantically running about getting ready for school. This is not typical for him, normally he gets up without any issues, on time, showers and is always timely and prepared for school. My son is the most responsible 17 year old I know. Today we had a slightly different routine. He had to wear dress pants, dress shirt, dress shoes and a tie to school. His varsity baseball coach mandated all varsity players wear formalwear on game days. We all loved the idea. My son also seemed very content with his look, yet, this being a new routine was a bit stressful for all of us this morning. Lots of running around, last minute reminders. As a parent, my compulsion in times of stress and change is to protect my kids. To help and make things as easy as possible for them to save them the aggravation. Then, on my own drive to work, right afterwards, I had a realization about the value of stressful experiences for growth and that all was fine this morning and I actually did not need to assist or shield him from anything. The panic was in me!! In fact, panic, franticness, crazy days are all part of life and it’s not just okay but more HELPFUL to not assist, not save, not shield. In the craziness of the morning I had forgotten that my overall view on the friendliness level of the universe was that yes, the universe IS a kind place. In a kind universe all experiences are welcomed for they serve a purpose and as human beings we are here to learn.
Take, for instance, my car getting totaled last month while parked. Had I thought this was the result of an unforgiving universe I would have suffered so much more through the experience. Instead, viewing the experience through my “friendly universe lense” I can see that I got to drive a new rental for three weeks, I got money for my old car that was on its way out, I then used my great credit to buy a brand new car, which is safer and runs much better. Who knows, maybe the accident even saved us from something even worse. The weekend the car was totaled was the same weekend my daughter had sprained her ankle and we could not attend a gymnastics tournament 3 hours away.
So next time life throws you lemons, stop, look through the lens of a friendly universe and see if perhaps there is a message embedded within those lemons . What messages are you missing?