lystn

What if the universe really truly has your back. What if, every time you find yourself feeling comfortable in life, the universe will make sure that something happens so you can keep evolving. As a person, on all levels. The universe is making sure that you, as an individual, becomes the highest version of yourself. And to become the highest version of yourself, you have to always be tested, challenged to think in new patterns and leave your comfort zone. What if you could learn to see setbacks and rejections as gifts: you’re being challenged to grow and evolve.

I have always had a deep, powerful belief in the universe’s ability to guide and direct. I do believe we are the creator’s of our own opportunities and we can make things happen, but the universe will direct us, slightly, sometimes without us noticing.

That guidance can appear as people. When I look back at my life I can see how every person who showed up in my life ultimately taught me something, or led me somewhere, or introduced me to someone, that in turn led me to the next chapter or opportunity or stage in my life. When I have fallen into moments of feeling like I have done all the work I could possibly do on myself and I am now complete and all healed, I suddenly randomly meet a person who makes me aware of all the sweet spots in my heart that I still need to work on and heal. When I believe I’m ready for a certain opportunity, I’m presented with a rejection, or a hurdle, or I make a mistake that in turn leaves me thinking: I need to work a bit more on that specific area.

This summer I found myself with a very effortless daily living. Everything was calm. I had calm, stable friendships, good health, making slow but stable progress with my creative projects and I slowly made myself comfortable. In the past I had moments when I was chasing something, I was on a mission, being challenged, growing every day, and I woke up with wide opened eyes ready to fight! But this summer.. I transitioned into long slow mornings, no challenges in sight and I might have made myself a bit too comfortable. 
Then suddenly, POOF, out of nowhere, things were turned around and thrown up in the air and I found myself yet again sitting wide awake at 4am plotting out a new plan. For you, it might have been losing a job, losing a person, being kicked out of your apartment, the stock market crashing.. whatever it was that disrupted your peaceful existence—how did you handle it? How did you react? Did you curse the people and the situation, or did you take a deep breath a glance at the sky, and then thought: “how exciting. I wonder where this will lead me?”

See, the world is not static and the idea that we will get to a point where we got it all sorted is a fantasy that wouldn’t serve us. Trauma, loss or rejections CAN catapult you into action that speeds up your personal transformation in a way that slow and peaceful living never can, and looking back at my life, all the most important big moves in my life happened as a consequence of being forced out of my peaceful stable living.

So how can we handle unexpected hurdles or redirections? We can panic. We can curse. We can cry. Or we can learn to feel the universe placing a hand on our shoulder, saying “that’s not for you, keep looking, I got your back.” When we’re presented with a person who’s triggering us, challenging us, breaking our hearts… we can learn to feel the universe saying: “I sent this person to you for a reason. Your job is to find the lesson that will get you ready for the next person. Maybe the right person.”

Things will happen, that are out of our control, we can not stop them from happening because they were always meant to happen. All we can do is choose how we respond to it. Do we panic, wish for different circumstances… or do we trust in our story, take on the storm like a growth opportunity and embrace the lessons? Can we even learn to take deep, calm breaths in the