Reading this article, I’m reminded of a Christian quote that says God answers every prayer, but sometimes the answer is no. That’s not a comforting thought, I know.
We generally think of God, the Universe, or One Infinite Creator as a compassionate force, however divine compassion doesn’t equate to being an automatic wish/prayer answering machine. The Universe usually gives us what we need, not what we want/desire. Often what we really need is a good challenge to learn and grow from.
If the Universe removed every challenge from our path, we would never learn or grow. We would become stagnate, dependent children in someone’s walled-off Garden of Eden. This equates to our human concept of parenting. Do we over-protect our children, making them incapible of handling future adult challenges on their own? Or do we occasionally allow them to fall down and make mistakes, allowing them to grow up into self-sufficient adults?
Only through challenge do we discover our metal, how we respond to adversity, what we are capable of, who we really are. Challenge is a polarizing process, setting us upon a path, either Service-to-Others or Service-to-Self.
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When The Universe Doesn’t Have Your Back
It is nice to believe that the Universe always has your back, that the Universe is always looking out for you.
But life doesn’t always feel this way and this is often because the Universe has taken a few steps back and is waiting for you to figure things out on your own.
Sometimes we go through life feeling really supported and that the Universe is on our side. Things flow, synchronicity happens, but other times this feeling couldn’t be further away from the truth.
Sometimes it feels like life is pushing you in the mud, slamming you into brick walls, and pulling out each and every finger nail one by one. Sometimes, you fall and no one is there to catch you.
Sometimes you fall so deep that you can’t even see where you are or where you need to be going.
Even though you have done everything “right” and have followed all the rules, the Universe will still fail to catch you, and fail to shine a light to help you out of the dark.
It is likely that we have all reached a point like this in our lives. It is likely that this point happens to everyone in varying degrees, and even though it doesn’t feel like it, when this happens it is one of the most exciting times of your life.
When the Universe has left you to figure things out on your own, when no one around you has any clue how to help or console you, the only thing that is left, the only thing that you can turn to is yourself.
If you feel like the Universe is against you, or if you wonder if there is any goodness left on this planet, know that this is a calling.
A calling for you to go within and find your strength, to find your light, and to find your own goodness so you can make your way up and through.
This is the calling of your soul to go within, to get to know your true self, and to reinvent your entire life from the inside out.
Life is not really about what happens to you, instead it is about how you choose to face the things that happen. Life is about finding your strength, finding your courage, and finding yourself when things get tough.
If life was easy all the time, there would no growth and no adventure. The challenge is what pushes you, and what inspires you to get out of your comfort zone and into new territories.
It has been said that the strongest souls have the most challenging lives, for it is those soul’s that can handle the pain, the loss, and the devastation that are able to pick themselves up and find a way through.
It is through this journey of being down in the mud to finding your strength and light that makes life. It is this all important journey that shapes who you are and the future that is to come.
It is always destined that you will make it through because even though the Universe may not always catch you, it never gives you anything that you can’t handle.
As Neil DeGrasse Tyson says, “the Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you,” and the times where it makes the least sense is when you are being called to grow a little and adventure a little.
So you may as well find the joy, laugh your way through it, and remind yourself when you are in the cold, dark muddy mess, that this is life.
The Universe won’t always have your back, but that’s just because you no longer need someone to catch you.
About the Author
Dylan is a 32-year-old surfer from California. He traveled the world, rode the waves and learned the universal concept of oneness. He is a vegan for over a decade and, literally, wouldn’t hurt a fly. He was reunited with his twin soul in Greece, where they got married and settled… for now. Dylan is a staff writer for DreamcatcherReality.com and teaches surfing to children.