We’ve all been through something challenging, hard, “bad”, traumatizing, and painful. How we use these so-called negative experiences of life makes all the difference in the world. Most people use them one of two ways, to either close down to life or to open up to the adventure that is life. When we encounter seemingly negative life experiences, we have the choice to shift our perception in order to be able to see them as preparation for the next opportunity. In this way, we come to see that negative experience is a catalyst to change, and then we have the ability to turn experience into adventure.
When we feel that life is having its way with us, we start to have an internal encounter with ourselves in which we attempt to make sense of what’s happening. Things begin to shift within us as we observe our outer circumstance. Our inner experience is made up of how we perceive what’s happening and how we choose to feel about it. If we stay open to all of it, even the pain, knowing that it’s working for our good then we allow it to grow and expand us, eventually moving us forward.
When Marla was in the midst of her own challenging circumstances before coming to Los Angeles, she chose to recognize that what she’d been going through was the motivating factor for her making the decision to move. She began to understand the perfection in it all, and she surrendered to where her life was taking her. She chose to stay open instead of letting the pain close her down. Her life is proof positive that when we practice this opening, then our past experiences catapult us into new adventures.
As Marla puts it, “If you close your hand, nothing can get out but nothing can get in either. You must open your hand to allow life to flow and to receive.”
So, stay open and see where the experience you’re in is leading you to the adventure of your life.