Allowing life’s goodness

Life’s goodness does not always come to you in the way you expect. In order for goodness to flow through your life, be willing to fully accept each moment as it comes. Instead of putting your energy into judging whether the moment is good or bad, frustrating or exciting, worthwhile or a waste of time, simply let it be. Remind yourself that now is already here. This moment has arrived as it is, and nothing you can do will change what has already come to be.

Often, what may seem to be a very sad moment can reveal new levels of life’s goodness to you. For when you are sad, you are robustly connected to those things you truly care about. Your sadness reminds you of what’s important to you, which brings about an even more powerful realization that there are things important to you, that you do really care, that there is a unique, living passion within you. Though sadness is painful, you can still be fully accepting of that sadness by understanding that you would feel infinitely more pain if your life were so void of meaning that you could not experience any sadness.

Many of the things that you hastily judge to be bad are often filled with goodness. A classic example is the loss of a job. Though in the immediate term it can create severe disruptions to your finances and sense of purpose, it also brings new freedom to you—freedom to engage in work that has even greater meaning and reward.

By its very definition, life is always in motion and always changing. Such pervasive dynamism can render judgments about the value of a particular occurrence to be so erroneous that they’re hardly worth the trouble. The way things are in this moment is not the way they will stay. From every direction, life immediately responds, and then responds again to the responses.

In this manner, reality continually unfolds. With that unfolding comes much goodness. You cannot know in advance precisely how or where or under what circumstances that goodness will take shape. What you can do is accept whatever does happen and offer your own love, appreciation and goodness to each moment. In that way, no matter what, you connect yourself to the delightfully fresh and surprising nature of life’s goodness as it continually unfolds.