Right Before My Very Eyes

Things aren’t always what they seem. You may feel lost when everything you really need is right in front of you.

A few weeks ago I got lost in the city. Walking through the freezing rain with my daughter in tow, we desperately searched for an office building for a business appointment. We had had a long journey already, taking the train into Munich, which itself had been delayed.

Time pressure along with the foul weather put me in a tailspin. We asked a few pedestrians how to get to the address we sought. We took lefts, then rights, then ended up back where we started. Finally, I flagged down a cab to get us there warm and dry. Sitting in the safety of the vehicle, I thought to recheck the address of the place. We had past it several times without noticing because I had mentally noted the wrong building number. We were 300 meters away from our destination all along.

The very location I desperately had wanted to reach was right before my very eyes the whole time. And I didn’t even see it.

Sometimes our vision is skewed. Whether our emotions are at play (and they very often are!) or our mental state hinders clarity of thought, we can be challenged by things merely because our inner state is in turmoil.

During a recent lecture by a Buddhist monk, I was reminded that all suffering begins, and ends, from within. No matter the external circumstances, our truest pain comes from the inside, from what we think about ourselves and others. We engage in consistent self-sabotage by making things mean something they do not. How we choose to see things, or be blinded by them, the monk said, informs how we experience them.

If you are experiencing pain of any kind, turn your attention to what brings you joy. Embrace those aspects of your life with all your might and you will watch them grow. Pretty soon the source of that pain will morph into the source of your utmost happiness.

You will see.

Remember: when a door slams shut, a window flies open. It’s the Universal Law of Equilibrium. Nothing is ever lost. It sometimes just changes form.

Celebrate life for all it has to offer you. Great things are in store for you. I can feel it. I really can!

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