Making the rounds on Facebook today:  “Everything you are going through is preparing you for what you asked for.”  Another one of those inscrutable statements that can be interpreted in various ways. My take is that it isn’t blaming as much as it is highlighting that we have such power, even on an unconscious basis, to make sweeping life changes. It also reminds me that when I seed plant, I don’t always know how the crop will grow. I can plant cucumbers, and then water, feed and weed them and still have no clue when they will be ready for harvesting.

When I gaze back over my shoulder into the distant and even recent past, I see clearly that the choices I made, whether knowingly or by default, led to the life I am living now. If I want a more pleasant outcome, then I have  to make other choices. In order to recall what I asked for, I need only to look at the results. Now, I am amply aware that I am not in charge of the outcome of everything I do, but still need to take responsibility if ever I am I doubt. If I choose to learn a lesson in patience, then I might draw into my life, a slow poke driver right in front of me as I am in a hurry up to get somewhere. If I ask to learn compassion, I may be confronted with someone I may have judged in the past. And, if I choose independence, then begins the real work of re-inventing myself in the midst of a familiar and perhaps, unwise place to be.

Some might think of this line as shaming people who may feel victimized, which may not be the case at all.  Instead it could be empowering.  I have become acutely aware that the Hansel and Gretel breadcrumb trail of my life,  wound inexorably to this moment from whence it first began. It was forged by my thoughts (conscious and unconscious) that put a call out to the Universe  that it graciously accepted and now I marvel at the perfection of it all.

What have you asked for?