Worst thing that ever happened to you- really?
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.” Charles Dickens
Taken from A Tale of Two Cities, “the book is full of tragic situations”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities
Published in 31 weekly installments or 8 monthly issues. It didn’t start out as a book, with well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature. Interesting, huh? Everyone has quoted that famous phrase “the best of times, the worst of times”, why couldn’t we extend it to our subject, “was this the worst thing that ever happened to me, or was this the best thing that ever happened to me?”
Lionel Richie sang “Easy like Sunday Morning”
Know it sounds funny but I just can’t stand the pain
Girl, I’m leaving you tomorrow
Seems to me girl you know I’ve done all I can
You see I begged, stole and I borrowed … yeah ooh
Ooh, that’s why I’m easy
I’m easy like sunday morning
That’s why I’m easy
I’m easy like sunday mooooooooorning
Why in the world would anybody put chains on me?
I’ve paid my dues to make it
Everybody wants me to be what they want me to be
And Im not happy when I try to fake it yeah
I wanna be high so high
I wanna be free to know the things I do are right
I wanna be free just me oh baby uh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQAKY1ntM9o&feature=related
I perceive this as a sad song, of a breakup of a long relationship. He lasted as long as he could but wanted to be “free and easy”. Breaking up is always painful. But he was “easy”?What was easy? He was at ease, with recognizing the best of times and the worst of times.
What is the worst thing that ever happened to you? Really? Is it according to what other people think rates highest? Is hearing you have breast cancer? Or prostate cancer? Or your father died? Or your wife died? Or you were black balled at work? Or you were fired? Or you didn’t get accepted by the school you dreamed of? Or the woman you dreamed of? Or you lost the love of your life? Or you lost your favorite ring? Or someone ran into your new maserati? Or you were sent to prison for a stupid mistake? Or you found yourself homeless? Or drug addicted or unable to stop some overwhelming desire that was bad for you? Or an accident that leaves you maimed? Or blind? Or deaf? Or you got old? Or your pet died? Or you went bankrupt? Or you lost all your stockmarket funds? Or you lost your professional license? Or you were ostracized for something you believed in? Or you were totally wrong about something? Or you hurt someone badly and can’t tell them how much you regret it? Or what else can you think of?
Guess what, none of these things can be the worst thing for you, unless you say it is.
Isn’t it more about what is happening right now? When a woman is giving birth, that’s the worst thing that she can imagine. Afterwards, those thoughts fade and she will recount it differently, because of the feelings that replaced those during transition. Think about the times you have thought nothing could get worse or better. They always did, didn’t they?
So, whatever seems like the “worst thing that ever happened to you” could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Remember Garth Brooks’ song, “Unanswered Prayers”
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2156161706585783232#docid=791552073937369517
And, we have an indominatible human spirit that rises to the times and things we face.
http://thyroidcancersurvivor.wordpress.com/
So, instead of debating the worst thing that ever happened to me, or you or someone else, spend your energy in positive ways. If you are in the midst of a difficult time, find the good. Find a good resource, a good outlet, a good friend, a good cause, a good attitude and look for a good result. And count on a little hindsight bias. You know that old saying “hindsight is 20/20”? Now, we know why things we have successfully navigated are not the “worst” things. We tend to view the whole experience differently, with a little softening of reflections. There is a way “to understand how a person can so easily change the foundation of knowledge and belief for events after receiving new information.” Let’s deal with the situations we face right here, right now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindsight_bias
As Lena told me once, “Nothing good or bad lasts forever”.
As David once said, “That’s not the worse thing anyone’s ever done in this family”.
See our storefront for one issue described above- facing the daily fear of a recurrence of cancer. One of our writers will be making natural health recommendations based on recent research on a specific issue in 2012. Take a new approach, make new choices, be a new person. Your body regenerates and recreates cells every 30 days. A new habit is formed from repeating it for 2 weeks. Make this the best of times and make the best of these times!!! Whatever we resist, persists ~~ Go with the flow!
May you have a wonderful holiday. Merry Christmas!!
