Question of the Month: WE’VE ALL BEEN UPSET? WHAT THEN?

I have fewer bad days than I used to, but yes occasionally there are those days that are upsetting. These times I have learned to keep my heart open and not ask the question “why me” but ask the question “why did I attract this to me?” The answers you get are very different when you ask the latter question. The former has a victim mentality with no chance for growth. The latter question begs a different answer – and there is growth there. I remember reading of this topic in the book “Loyalty to Your Soul” by Ron and Mary Hulnick. A great book on life as a whole, it quoted Ram Dass saying, “No matter what is happening in your life, you can choose contentment.” A spiritually evolved view is that we attract everything that happens to us. Why? Because we are all on a journey to enlightenment.

As Sri Yukteswar – who was Yogananda’s guru – taught us, it can take humans one thousand lifetimes to learn all the lessons to achieve enlightenment as we humans do not learn lessons easily. However, he also points out that with the right spiritual practice you can achieve this state in this lifetime. So that which upsets you resides within the ego. Also upsets are clues you can use to search within you to discover unresolved issues that are causing your dismay. Events do not have the power to upset you – getting upset is a choice. In other words there is spiritual bullion within the upsets, but you need to look for it within yourself. I also find that by increasing my meditation practice, my inner guidance helps me find this spiritual bullion and helps me to move beyond the upset and back into the flow.