Really? Nothing Is As Bad As It Seems?

On this day of your life I believe God wants you to know...
...that nothing is as bad as it seems. Nothing.

There is a benefit and a blessing hidden in the folds
of every experience and every outcome. That includes
every and any 'bad' thing that may be happening to
you right now.

Change your perspective. Know that nothing happens
ever that is not for your highest good. All that needs
to change for you to see this...is your definition of
'Highest Good.'
~ Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God

Really? Are you sure? Nothing is as bad as it seems? Because sometimes things seem really really bad! I mean, I didn't ask for this to happen you know. There is sooo much suffering in the world, so many bad things happening to me, around me, and to many people that I know. Surely there are exceptions?

Hard as it may be to accept (and it can be very hard), yes, we're sure. And no, there are no exceptions. NDW is absolutely right: nothing is as bad as it seems, and there is a gift in every event that we call negative.

Nothing ever simply "happens" to us. Even if we haven't the ability, in our current situation, to see what our part is in anything that we experience, there is no doubt that we did play a part. If something is happening to you or around you, if something is in your awareness, there is always a reason and there is always an agreement to participate.

We are creators on the grandest scale. We incarnated here to create our experiences, and in so doing to expand. Each and every one of those experiences is part of our creation, whether we like the experience or not. The greatest benefit you can be to yourself is to remember that you are the one responsible for your circumstances, not the other way around.

If you are still struggling to accept your responsibility in the matter of creating your own life, there are now hundreds and thousands of healers, teachers, tutors, and mentors available to help you find your way. But they are only going to guide you, they cannot do the work for you. It is up to each of us individually to awaken once and for all to the very real truth that we are responsible for ourselves and everything that happens to us. Individually we are actors in our own play, creators of our own reality. Together we are actors in our shared play, co-creators of our shared reality. But more than actors, we are the writers, directors, and critics of that play too!

On a spiritual level no one - no one - judges us. Any judging that goes on is ours and ours alone. And it's only judging if we insist on making it so. Examination of any experience is from the perspective of "I went to Earth to learn/experience thus and so, and to grow from it. How did I do?" and those are questions no one asks of us but ourselves.

But .. we don't have to wait until we die to do that! In fact, "the shift" is all about being awake and aware enough to be able to do that now, in this body. To become Spirit embodied, and live the remainder of our physical life here on Earth from that perspective. To view every experience as an exciting, interesting, event that we created for our own purposes. Our interactions with others is our co-creation with them, whether it looks like that or not to the human being part of us. Taking back our power means remembering that, as the saying goes "we are the ones we've been waiting for."

So the most empowering way we can live is to simply accept our responsibility in the matter of our own life and what happens to us, even though we do not, and may never, understand it. A helpful question to ask is "What's the gift in this experience?" and see what answer comes forth from the heart. If none comes, live in the knowing that there is a gift, even if we cannot yet see it. All will be clear soon enough. In the meantime all there is to do is simply accept, forgive - ourselves included - and move on.

One of my favorite Abraham quotes relates to this topic:

The premise of your life is Freedom;
the purpose of your life is Joy.
~ Abraham

Stated differently, the purpose of our lives is not suffering. Suffering is what gets added onto an experience that we do not understand and cannot accept. In the acceptance, without needing to know the reasons, comes freedom. In freedom comes power. And from power comes joy. Even in what others might call the worst of times.