The really brave choice of staying open

Sometimes things don’t go our way.

Something unexpected happens.
A beloved pet dies.
We don’t get the promotion, or the house, or the gig.
Friendships end.
There’s a hard diagnosis or tragic accident.

When things don’t go our way, we have a choice about how we respond.

We can shut down and become angry, bitter, fearful, and hard.
Or we can stay open and become curious, compassionate, loving, and forgiving.
Neither one of these responses is right or wrong. They just provide us with different experiences.

When things don’t go our way, the natural tendency is to close. It’s much easier to get angry than it is to forgive. It takes less work to be mean than it does to look at things from another’s perspective.

If we’re not mindful, we can close up tight before we know we’re doing it.

When we live our lives annoyed, pissed off, resentful, mean, hurt, afraid, and blaming others for life not going our way, we miss so much. We miss the opportunity to grow. We miss miracles taking place right in front of us. We miss the magic. We miss something better.

But when we pause, take a breath, and make the brave choice to stay open to whatever is happening in front of us, the world opens up in ways we never could have dreamed of.

When you stay open to life, especially when it doesn’t go your way, there is abundant joy on the other side of your pain.

Word to the wise: don’t waste time guessing what that joy might be. This is beyond human proficiency. Not even ChatGPT can tell us. Our job is to stay open and welcome whatever joy is coming our way.

My unexpected joy came in the form of a Parisian named Carole. I don’t know what your joy will be, but hold on and stay open. It will find you.

In the meantime, I will be in France for the next two months, diving into the French plant based world and embracing a joy I never could have dreamed up or planned for myself. I will continue to see you in your inbox every Saturday. If you want to follow along with my plant based French adventure, I’ll be posting to Instagram regularly.

Molly