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Everything – Yes, Everything – Is a Gift
8 Ways to Start Believing It
Everything is a gift. Everything. Most of us have no trouble accepting the gifts life showers us with if they're things like birdsong or great sex or a bountiful holiday table or a perfect snowflake. Other gifts, though, tend to challenge our role as gracious recipient. A diagnosis of cancer, for instance. A visit from the IRS. Genocidal maniacs. A mean-spirited boss who humiliates us in a meeting. If you're spiritually inclined at all, you know in theory that with adversity comes growth – but how can you reach a place where you really live that belief?
Helping people like you answer that question is a big part of Steve Roberts' mission in life. A self-described "strategist and mentor" for leaders and the author of Cool Mind Warm Heart: Adventures with Life's Biggest Secret (St. Lynn's Press, 2006), he specializes in helping people gain clarity on what is essential – especially in painful times.
"I for one don't believe there is any such thing as a crisis – except perhaps for not learning from what happens to us," says Roberts. "But even that can be a blessing, for denial eventually causes such excruciating pain that we are obligated to consider a different choice, a choice that serves our innate desire to act with our mind and heart in balance. Pain is not punishment. Pain is the universe saying, 'No, no, my child. Make another choice. You are much bigger than this. You are divine. Ultimately, you can make room for everything.'"