Judging the Universe

"I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe." Dalai Lama

I have this funny mental picture of myself, sitting crosslegged on top of a high mountain peak, judging the universe. Occasionally I tighten my mouth and shake my head back and forth in disapproval.

Sometimes we want something so badly and have hoped for it for so long, that we get to the point where we don't want to "get our hopes up." We try to be cautiously optimistic, to not set high expectations. What do we fear? That it won't turn out the way we hoped. But is that the real fear? Oh, then. It must be the disappointment that we fear. Is that it, really? I think what we are afraid of is that we will be unable to handle the disappointment; that it will crush us and take away our heart. It's kind of sad that we have so little confidence in our ability to handle the ups and downs of daily living.

We have so much personal power to create the kind of life we want, but realistically there are some things out of our control. Other people create the kind of lives they want, and as much as we may want something for them, as much as it seems obvious what they need to do, they are the ones who have to make it happen. So if the outcome is completely out of your hands, what difference does it make if you hope or not? If hope is a positive thing (and it is) and you want to hope (you know you do) then go ahead and hope! Certainly all that good energy you are sending out when you hope will bounce back to you eventually, even if the outcome of a particular situation is not what you want. I think you can handle the disappointment. It will sting a bit and maybe you will even feel a little foolish for having been such a Pollyanna, but sooner or later (sooner I hope) you will get up and brush yourself off and begin again. You'll continue walking down the road, and before you know it, that old spring will be back in your step. Because you hoped.

Susan