Why Me?

Great post!!!! This helped me get some perspective around minor annoyances that have kept me up the past couple of nights.

Greetings Will,

One of my favorite authors, Richard Bach, once wrote, “Perspective: use it or lose it.” That quote has stuck with me for years. We choose to look at life from a certain perspective…through a particular set of “lenses”. These lenses are given to us early on by our parents (”don’t do this”, “that’s wrong”, “this is right”, etc…). Over the years, our “prescription” is adjusted by family, friends, the media, politics, religion, culture, business, environment, etc… The thing for me to remember is that no two people on the planet view the world with exactly the same prescription.

How we “see” the world, and what happens in it, is a result of our “conditioning”.

Some people see disaster - others see opportunity.
Some people see loss - others see gain.
Some ask “why me?” - others ask, “if not me, then who?”

Charles Swindoll once said, “I believe life is about 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”

The way I see it…many of the disasters of late (Katrina, the Tsunami, the Socal wildfires, earthquakes, floods, water shortages, mortgage crisis, etc…) are of greater magnitude than similar disasters in the last 50-100 years. I think the planet is sending a message: we’re all connected: people to people…people to animals and plants and planet. We must ALL recognize this and start acting like it. We ARE responsible to each other and for each other.

In these trying times, it is important that we help each other - without profiting from it. It is important that we are good stewards of our environment and our relationships.

I wish you all Peace, blessings and Namaste.

- James

Yes!

So simple and yet so profound to be the happiest when you have a myriad of trials and tribulations. I agree, Will, that you can have peace in the midst of the storms of life. In my life, I have seen so much beauty emerge from the “ashes” and I trust that all of my pain has revealed a deeper beauty, a more authentic me.

I also believe that James hit the nail on the head with his direction from Charles Swindoll.

Well said!

Blessings,

Angela

What if there are no what ifs?

Most of the people I’ve seen in the last few days have reached deep inside and brought forth their best selves. I am so proud of my fellow San Diegians! Just makes me realize how wonderful we can all be.

“Why did this happen to me?” That’s like asking why is water made of hydrogen and oxygen. Things just are. There’s no “reason”, there’s no “purpose”, there’s no magic sky fairy tossing down plagues because you’ve angered him. There’s just the universe doing what it does and we’re left to react just like any other creature or element of the universe. The phrase “Shit Happens” best describes this.

What’s the “purpose” of a bacteria? It’s born, lives, does what it’s going to do, and then dies. That’s it. Just because we humans have larger brains doesn’t mean we’re any more than just another cog in the wheel of the universe. We like to think we’re more important, and our arrogance and vanity make us believe that things happen to us specifically for a reason. But that’s just self-delusion.

Let is go. You’ll be happier and life will be easier.

Of course we humans have a great effect on the world. What’s good and what’s bad depends on which person, plant, or animal you are. It sucks to have your house burn down but the grasses and plants need the fire to live. So yes, we humans have built and changed things to the way we want them to be, but that doesn’t mean there’s any special reason why they should “be” or why they should be any more valuable than anything else in the grand scheme of things.

Like Will eluded to…there’s no “fair” in life. It is what it is, things happen, people make things happen, lightening makes things happen, plate tectonics makes things happen, bears and bees make things happen. It is what it is and we’re all just along for the ride, trying to control all that we can.

I don’t say all of this from a nihilistic point of view. It’s just about accepting reality. When you accept reality instead of fighting it, life becomes so much easier.

Two quotes that come to mind…

You wouldn’t worry so much about what other people thought if you realized how seldom they do.
—Eleanor Roosevelt

(substitute “other people” for “the universe”)

AND

A man said to the universe:
“Sir I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
– Stephen Crane