Our car was stolen Saturday night. An angel in disguise took our prized possession away, unseen, and slipped stealthfully into the darkness. As we processed our situation, my husband and I practiced neutrality first, followed by gratitude. We remained detached observers, and we welcomed the healing life lessons being offered to us on a silver platter.
First and foremost, we observed the obvious fact that no one had been hurt or even frightened. A material object had simply disappeared. We were acutely aware that so many brave people go through unimaginable things that we cannot even fathom, and we felt grateful for our situation. After that, lessons immediately appeared, and by embracing them, we grew from the experience.
The next lesson we received involved the vanity of materialism and the inauthenticity of status. The fact is, we’d worked hard to acquire our very nice car but had also been fortunate to buy it at a bargain price, and even the bargain payments were becoming stressful. The car reflected the fact that we were living beyond our means, and in truth, I think we always felt like posers in it. We are so passionately spiritual, and a new luxury car seemed at odds with our souls. We love classical beauty but never wanted to feed into exclusivity and smugness, and we’d always felt conflicted about this object. What we want is comfort and joy for all—we want beauty and abundance for each and every soul on earth, but not a symbol of snobbery.
Lo and behold, our conflict was resolved for us overnight, and instead of feeling like victims who had suffered an injustice, we welcomed this blessing with open arms and saw its perfection. Yes, the ordeal would cost us some more money, but the spiritual growth we received was invaluable. And although we did feel some palpable sadness, we saw that objects can bring us joy, like toys, but attachment to them is ultimately distraction. We learned that we cannot look to external objects to give us validation for what we can only give to ourselves, and when we let those objects go, we become free to love ourselves properly. And, when we welcome the blessings of losing material objects, those objects can actually aid in human transformation. That is why, ever since our car was stolen, we have been sending love and gratitude to our angel who drove away undercover.
They say that your car represents your life. Well, our life changed for the better in the blink of an eye, all because of gratitude. We see now that being grateful for negative experiences transforms them. Instead of resisting a challenge and spiraling into more negativity, we can become observers who approach that challenge with gratitude, welcoming its lessons that grace us. This allows us to fully accept the challenge, unconditionally, and to become open to instant spiritual growth. What follows is unconditional love for all, an otherworldly and powerful feeling.
If complaining brings us more of what we don’t want, then gratitude seems to make us invincible. And although the experience of getting a car stolen could have made us less trusting of the universe, we actually feel more trusting of everything. By being grateful for our negative experiences, past and present, we get to take full responsibility for our lives, knowing that we attract challenges in order to gain revelations of love. We finally get to LOVE ALL—the “good” and the “bad,” without exception. We see that everything has the potential to be beautiful in this world, if only we let it. This creates heaven-on-earth and a fast-track to spiritual evolution.
Earlier today, the full force of these recent lessons hit me, and I laughed uncontrollably like a happy Buddha. I knew the secret to life: being grateful for the bad things is what alchemizes those bad things into gold. And then I realized that everything is actually gold anyway, and always has been.
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