My Favorite Question

Many years ago, I heard a quote that I have had swirling in my head ever since. It is from Albert Einstein;

 

“The most important question facing humanity is,
“Is the Universe a friendly place?”

I suddenly realized that if I answered no, I would have one experience of life. If I answered yes, I would have another. And I could not stop thinking about that. What does that even mean, that the Universe could be friendly or not? I began to ponder this, and watch myself and others as we navigated our way through life. There were times when I was certain that I needed to protect myself, that I was a small cog in something so big I felt insignificant. At other times, I could tell there was something vastly larger than I was, that consisted of energy, and that was up to something benevolent. And I always relaxed when I saw that.

The thing is, we may not be able to comprehend what the Universe is working on that is FOR us right away. It may be that we will only see in hindsight what something was for. For instance, in my recovery from rib and vertebrae fractures, it is beginning to dawn on me that this downtime that I am so frustrated by is teaching me to adopt a more peaceful pace, one that allows me to listen more deeply and open my heart. As I work through the physical Therapy phase, I still catch myself trying to push my therapy so I have quicker results. Then I laugh because I am missing my life as I am hurrying to get somewhere.

When I am more at peace, I’ll be darned if I don’t accomplish more, and enjoy things more. And so I lean into the lesson and find I am more moved, I am more grateful, and I feel held by something that is designed to be a partner of sorts, a non-human partner at that. And when something rocks me, I find it so helpful to consider that one day I might see what this is happening FOR, and I could start looking for that right away. That diminishes the time I spend fretting about how things “shouldn’t be this way.”

Try it! I’m not saying we want all the circumstances that come our way. However, what if we adopted a sense that our non-human partner is trying to show us something??? I find I am much more resilient when I head this direction.