episode 28: everything happened for a reason

Have you ever gone through a rough patch, and had a well meaning friend or relative tell you, "everything happens for a reason?"

While with the best of intentions, this old adage provides little consolation, and it strips us of our agency.  It tells us that - unfair things happen, horrible things happen, and someone somewhere planned that JUST FOR YOU.

Ouch, right?

Rather than thinking of things fatalistically in this way, I propose to flip the script.  Look at life rather as a sequence of events - of small decisions, some of which are made by you, and some of which are made by others that have affected you.  Things happened for THIS reason.  And you can choose in the future to use the place you've arrived at as a springboard into something greater and more positive.  We'll explore these ideas and more in this episode. Listen here.