Deep Lessons in Life

"Whenever anything negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed within it, although you may not see it at the time.” Eckhart Tolle
 
One of the key points we learned in the definition about mindfulness is to be non-judgmental. This is one of the most important lessons I have learned in my life; I try to no longer judge or label what is happening as good or bad, positive or negative. 
 
We love the things we label as positive in our life, but we get upset by the things we label as negative and lament upon why this happened to poor me.  But as I look back on my life, some of the things I had labeled “negative” were actually some of the most meaningful lessons in my life.

Now, when I am about to label something as “bad,” I take a step back and ask what lesson am I supposed to learn from this challenge in my life.  It isn’t easy, but I realize that everything is a lesson and if I don’t learn the lesson the first time, the universe keeps giving me more opportunities to learn the lesson.
 
For example, my house was burglarized and I of course was upset and scared.  It took a lot of work to live in the present moment.  It did me no good to worry about the house being burglarized again.  I did learn from the experience and took actions to protect the house better with an alarm system and a new more secure door.  But, whenever I would start to worry about being robbed, I would use my anchor and take a long deep breath and tell myself that nothing bad was happening in this moment. 
 
The lesson I needed to learn was detachment.  With time, I realized it was just “stuff” that was stolen.  When I die, I will not get to take my “stuff.”  Who I am at my core is not my “stuff.”  I would not want others to be robbed, but I learned a great lesson and I care much less about the possessions in my life.
 
The present moment is all there is and it is perfect.  If I am aware that I am labeling or judging, I stop and look for the lesson to be learned.
 
Think of something that you labeled as “bad” or “negative” in your life.   What lesson was concealed within that situation?