Sometimes when something really bad happens, it turns out the be a catalyst for something really good!
BAD NEWS: The Project I hod worked on for a year had to be scrapped! I lost my #1 Client, and majority of my income. In late April I attended Ken McArthur’s IMPACT event in Denver. I ended up “winning” the #1 spot for something called the Hot Seat. This is where you get to go in front of a panel of some very impressive and successful authors, entrepreneurs and online marketers to pitch your project and get their advice. I decided to pitch the book project I’ve been working on for my #1 Client. Guess what happened? I pitched my client’s project and after 15 minutes one of the panelists got up and literally “pitched” the book across the room saying, “This book has been launched!” It seemed like something “Bad” happened … my entire project was scrapped and it was recommended I let go of my #1 client. The panel convinced me of what I had suspected all along. There was no way for me to make this project a success without more funding and participation from my client.
GOOD NEWS: The remaining 15 minutes the panel urged me to come to terms with the situation, the best way to fire my client and start implementing the strategies I had suggested for him and put my time and energy into my OWN projects and create my own content and products. One of my good friends in the back of the room literally was doing a happy dance and cheering the panel on. GOOD NEWS! I am now focusing on myself, my projects and what I am to bring to the world!
BAD NEWS: My car was totaled. A few weeks later, at the end of a very long day, while moving into a new place I’d found to roost while here in Colorado, something unfortunate happened. Someone backed out of a parking spot … it was a blind spot because he was behind a big car and we couldn’t see each other, and he was in a hurry so he hit my car pretty hard. I wasn’t expecting that at the end of my moving day I would have someone take out the right side of my car, but he did damage from the front wheel all the way to the back bumper. My car drove just fine, but when I had it taken into the body shop and the disassembled it they found that it had done significant damage to my suspension … and my car was declared a total loss. BAD NEWS, right? Oh dear, I was so happy to have my little Nissan paid off, and suddenly I found myself out shopping for a new car, and something more appropriate than my Nissan Altima for driving through mountains and snow!
GOOD NEWS: I got a nice check for my Altima, sufficient for a down payment on a new Subaru Outback AND enough to live on for another couple of months while I work on my website! YAY!
Trusting in the Wisdom of Uncertainty
BAD NEWS: The circumstances around my move was another interesting story. I’d been house-sitting for almost 3 months in a beautiful and comfortable home, and had even had the opportunity to do some fairly extensive home improvement and landscaping for the owner. I had hoped that it might turn into a roommate situation where I could rent a room and have a place to land in the Denver area part time. I have an aging mother, and I’m her only living child and need to go spend time with her in Virginia. I have committed to being there to check in with her every three months. I have two children in Colorado and want to be here part of the time for them, too. I have set an intention to be have a home on both sides of the country. It became clear that was not meant to happen in the home where I’d spent almost three months house-sitting … trusting my instincts I informed the owner that I would be leaving within the week (even though I did not have a plan or a place to land). Housing in Denver is expensive and I wasn’t ready to make a lease commitment. It seemed to me that I would be heading back to the East Coast to find my first landing space there, near my mother. Colorado is beautiful, and I didn’t want to have to leave. Virginia is also beautiful, but I didn’t feel ready for a longer commitment there yet. I kept wondering and asking, “Where am I supposed to be?” I was prepared to pack up and leave within 3 days, even though that didn’t feel right either. I kept reminding myself to trust the wisdom of the Universe. Maybe I did need to be East, and if not I trusted something would show up. I took Memorial Day to do a 10 mile hike with the idea that I may be packing to leave Colorado in the next 3 days heavily on my mind. I kept reminding myself to “trust the wisdom of the Universe”.
GOOD NEWS: Help Arrives, just in the nick of time. When I returned from my hike that evening I attended my favorite drum circle. A woman showed up looking for me. She had heard that I might be looking for a place to rent. She had a basement apartment with new floors, new paint, bedroom/bath and a large area for living and working (even with a big desk for my work!) … and the next day I moved in. It took faith to “trust” in the wisdom of the opportunities that would present themselves. I trusted my instincts and followed them when doors seemed to be closing. Fear and resistance would have shut me down, so I trusted and reconciled myself that I may be leaving in a few days. It was no accident that this woman showed up “just in time” and wanted to rent her apartment to me for EXACTLY the amount that I had in mind. Miracles happen every single day if we are open to them. A good friend applauded me and said, “Wow, Kay—you totally manifested this!” I laughed and said, “And just in the nick of time, too!”
I set my intentions on having a home on both sides of the country. Now, in fact, I do have a place to live in both Colorado and Virginia. It hasn’t happened exactly the way I envisioned it, or at least not yet. However, I have to recognize what I had asked for, the Universe orchestrated and manifested it. I could have resisted the process and gone kicking and screaming, thinking that “bad” things were happening and everything was just awful. Instead, I stood back and said, WOW, this is exactly what I asked for, and it is happening in a very different way than I had imagined, and even sooner that I thought it could. I know there will be a time that I need to go back to Virginia and spend an extended time there, and I am prepared to do that. Part of me looks forward to that time and I am staying open and flexible as to when that might be. I am waiting and open and trust that I will be shown the right time.
Life Lesson
Trust in the Wisdom of the Universe and the Wisdom of Uncertainty. It is so easy to get upset when things don’t go the way we think they should. It is easy to become fearful and resistant in those times. Many folks live their lives this way, and it causes so much stress and unhappiness, and even disease. Unhappy people tend to also be physically unhealthy. I’ve heard it said that it is not wise to argue with the Universe. When things don’t seem to be going the way we think they should and doors are closing, it is time to look for opportunities. Often times, what we need and where we need to be is something or someplace that we didn’t even know existed. It is important that we be open at these times, and have awareness that many times our challenges are actually opportunities in disguise. I don’t think it is any accident when people and circumstances show up for us, just in the nick of time. If we set our sights on some goal or accomplishment that we want to achieve, it may not happen exactly as we expect. There may be road-blocks, challenges, and unexpected events along the way. Keep going as the mystery unfolds. Life is a journey and we have the choice to navigate life’s challenges kicking and screaming or we can choose to enjoy the ride. This doesn’t mean there won’t be heartaches, heartbreaks, real challenges, uncertain times, nor that “bad things” don’t happen to good people. Life can be messy at times, for sure. What it does mean is we have choices in how we navigate through the changes and challenges in our lives, and we can learn tools and strategies to navigate these times.
I am grateful for my life and for the people and experiences that even the most challenging times have allowed me to experience. Some might say I have led an adventurous and exciting life. Others may see the heart-ache and anguish from some very difficult times and circumstances I have navigated and have asked me how I have managed to stay sane, much less happy and positive. Trust me, it has not all been easy, and I have processed grief, anger, disappointment, depression, deep sadness, despair and some days I got though by reminding myself, “if I can just keep putting one foot down in front of the other, I will make it through this.” Our experiences and challenges make us who we are. I believe in a phrase I found in a book when I was a child “the obstacles in life will make us bettor or bitter, and we have a choice.” When I read that quote I decided right then, I would choose to have my challenges make me better, and I didn’t want to be bitter. Thank you for that little green and white book sitting on the nightstand at my grandmother’s house. It made a difference.
Recent Comments