Is it a Bad Thing? Maybe Not!

Recently, I was getting ready to go to the YMCA, where I teach a 6:00 a.m. class. It was 5:15 a.m. and I was half asleep. I struggled to put on my sports bra, but couldn't get the zipper to stay zipped. I'd been having problems with the zipper in the past, but this time, I could not get it to work. The same with my other sports bra. Both with the same issue, at the same time! I cursed the bras as I searched for one of my old ones. I made it to class on time, but decided then and there that I'd have to make a trip to the cleaners and have my bras re-zipped once and for all.

Later in the afternoon, I stopped what I was doing and headed for the cleaners. I hadn't been there in a while and it was nice to see the proprietor, Tom, with whom I'd often had really nice conversations about art, music, calligraphy, and languages. We shared the same interests.

As I was explaining to him about the zipper problem, we talked about our favorite topics. Eventually it came out that he would be moving to Maryland the following week to be closer to his family, especially his 6-month-old granddaughter.

It occurred to me just then that if my zippers hadn't broken, I never would have gone to the cleaners. And if I had, it would have been long after he'd sold his business. I would have been very sad to not have been able to say goodbye.

As it was, we were able to say a proper goodbye and tell each other how meaningful our interactions had been.

We may think that something that happens to us is a bad thing. But what do we really know? We don't have the ability to see beyond what our brain tells us in the instant we're thinking it. We don't always know what's best for us, or that something that seems bad, could actually be the best thing that ever happens to us.

It's important to see disturbances as an opportunity to see beyond what we may imagine in our limited capacity.

I believe that the Universe conspires in our best interest. We don't necessarily know what that is. So it is up to us to trust that when things happens, there's a hidden purpose at play; a motive that is well-intentioned, and somehow will move us beyond where we think we should be.