You might not like to hear this, but my job is to tell you what you need to know not what you LIKE to hear..
“Everything that happens to you and around you is a mirror to some aspect in you that needs to be looked at.”
– Kym McBride
(Tweetable)
The Universe is conspiring to move you to enlightenment. Enlightenment is just a fancy word for awareness, awareness-of-self. What better way to become aware of who you are then to see mirrors reflecting back to you something you need to question about you.
Think of the TV program, What would you do? The show stages a situation to see how you react to it. Usually, it’s to see if you would get involved when a child was being verbally abused or a homeless person asks for money. It’s a wonderful analogy for what the Universe is doing to you every day, in every way, asking you “who are you?’
Please understand, the things that happen are for you, not against you. This realization takes you out of the victim role into a power position.
Preface this viewpoint with another understanding: think about things in an in-depth way. Everyone quickly evaluates the stimuli around them with a base evaluation, off the top of their head. But a quick evaluation is only the first way to see it.
Now, for a person who understands everything that happens is a mirror for them, they will take a bit of time to see below the surface of a situation. “What is this situation telling me?” (But please don’t make the mistake of taking it ‘literal”. You might be playing out this behavior in a different way. It’s not literal, folks!)
- If a person did something underhanded, you might ask, “What am I doing that is underhanded?”
- If someone was rude to you for no reason, you might ask, “Who am I being rude, too? How am I acting rude, even though it might not be this blatantly.”
- Someone makes an unfair judgment against you, you might ask, “Where am I acting unfair or judgmental in situations?”
- You might witness a positive thing, like a man stopping to help an older woman put her groceries in the car or a woman helping a man figure out the hand scanner at the store. Nice things, but why did they happen in front of you? Why did the Universe want you to take note? You already identify that you do those nice things and you pride yourself on it. What might it also be telling you? Think deeper. “Who might be needing my help in my life now I haven’t noticed?” You’ll be surprised who pops into your mind.
- Suddenly you are having ants infiltrate your home, the sink faucet breaks, and one of your house numbers fall off the mail box. What could this be telling you? You might think, “Oh, this house is falling down, I haven’t taken care of things.” Take it one step further; in what ways are you not taking care of your “house”, your body? Are you avoiding some upkeep on your body, such as flossing, blood pressure logging or exercise?
- When in the grocery store line and you witness the cashier roll their eyes and make a snarky comment to the bag boy about a customer, now you are not involved; but you need to ask, “Where am I being disrespectful to someone?”
- On a summer afternoon, you see a young family picnicking near you in the park. You see the wife is unloading the car all by herself and setting up the day’s events. The dad is off chasing the kids around. You think, that’s odd. You know someone needs to watch the little ones but it just sticks with you. (This is the clue) You ask, “Where am I doing something disproportionate in a relationship? Am I carrying my weight of my relationship with my spouse/child/sibling/parent?
When you look at everything happening around you from the point of what the Universe is helping to bring to your attention, you will find growth opportunities. By seeing yourself from outside yourself, gives you perspective on your own self-awareness, which is your enlightenment.
Give this a try for just a few days and see what you learn. Please let me know what you find out.
P.S. Sometimes this is very hard to do when really difficult things happen to you. Practice on the smaller things. Soon you’ll be ready for the more difficult things.