Life Doesn’t Fall Apart; It Falls Into Place
Change occurring is certain but we don’t know what that change will bring us.
A Buddhist story goes like this: a tiger is chasing a man. He encounters an abandoned well and jumps in, hoping to escape the tiger. However, at the bottom of the well is a poisonous snake.
Before he reaches the bottom, he grabs onto a root growing out from the side of the well. The tiger waits for him at the top to climb out, and the snake waits for him at the bottom to fall down. Suddenly, two mice crawl out and begin chewing on the root he’s desperately holding onto.
What should he do next?
This story illustrates the state of life many of us find ourselves in from time to time—a state where there doesn’t seem to be a clear way out. Life can sometimes be very difficult and confusing. When we run from one problem, we find ourselves running into even more.
And when our sense of security is taken from us, we find ourselves wondering, Why me? Why is this happening again? We are left at the mercy of what seems to be an uncontrollable fate. Everything around us appears to be spiraling, and there is nothing we can do about it.
When we find ourselves holding onto a sliver of hope — the root — that’s quickly being chewed away by mice, and there is a hungry snake at the bottom and an even hungrier tiger at the top, what can we do to get out of this situation?
The key is to remember everything changes all the time.
Just like night turns into day, a curse can turn into a blessing. Change presents itself constantly and consistently in nature. So it very well could be that eventually, all the good and bad come together in a way that life never falls apart… but falls into place for us.
What should we do when life doesn’t go our way, and we’re miserable? If you’ve been reading any of my past posts, you know that I value the stoic philosophy that the only thing we can control is our thoughts. Consider that it is not the specific circumstances making us miserable but the way we perceive the circumstances.
For example, rejection from a “dream” job or relationship hurts. But that pain is lessened when we take rejection as a form of redirection. So that when we look back on those points in our life, later on, we look at them with gratitude and not regret. Every “no” we receive is divine protection and gets us to where and who we are today. A simple shift in perception can decide our mood.
The man stuck in the well shouldn’t panic as his situation is to be expected. It’s an unavoidable part of life. Existence means there will be times when life goes well and when life does not go according to plan.
Change occurring is certain but we don’t know what that change will bring us.
The power of change is often underestimated because we are unable to see the future. It’s difficult to conceive how the future may play out. There are just too many possibilities.
Change is always occurring for us in the background. Therefore, the reality we base our assessment on is shifting. When life appears to be falling apart, it could be falling into place in other ways we do not expect.
The man in the well whose fate seems to be sealed can change in an instant when the tiger leans in too far over the edge and falls past the man. It lands on the snake and squashes it while simultaneously breaking its own neck. The man survives and climbs out.
We will never know beforehand what fortune will bring us. Therefore, it’s futile to hope for a certain outcome only to be left disappointed. Instead, allow life to unfolds in ways that are nothing less than surprising.
The Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus reminds us,
“Don’t demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.”
Sometimes there is just nothing we do about a particular circumstance. But we can choose the position we take towards that circumstance. Pain and discomfort are certain, but suffering is optional.
