#376 – What do you gain when you meet everything with thanks?

"Be grateful for whatever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond."

Rumi

People go to extreme lengths to find gurus, teachers, mentors. Then, why do we reject real-life experiences that are here to guide us further?

Yesterday, once again, my son taught me what resilience and antifragility look like. I told him that reading Robert Sapolsky's exposition of the Norwegian prisons felt hard.

It was making me bitter to think of him, at 20, withering in a jail cell where he's not even allowed to walk or stand if not absolutely necessary, while reading about the idyllic conditions prisoners face in Norway (where recidivism rates are 20%, vs. 68% in the US). I was angry: why can't the US justice system be more humane? Don't they see its harshness and lack of compassion aren't even working?

Then, my son said: "But this experience is invaluable to me and I wouldn't change it for anything. What I'm getting out of it I could never have gotten any other way. Is it uncomfortable? Yes. But the discomfort's worth it!"

Once again, he reminded me that everything in life is a guide, if we allow ourselves to be guided. We can't be but grateful.

What life's discomforts are you willing to be guided by?

Love,

Carolina