“It’s All Good.”

I have a friend who gifted me with this mantra at a time when I was drowning in maddening frustration over work.

A business venture with a studio owner that started out as my ultimate blessing, brought with it many lessons, not only about business, but also trust and accountability. I spent a lot of time and energy creating a studio environment that I had huge hopes for.

My dream and joy of being head teacher of a yoga studio showed me exactly how hard it is to keep a business afloat in an already saturated market. Sadly after only six months, the yoga studio folded and I was disappointed. Self loathing became a huge part of my existence for a while.

How could I fail at something I loved?

But here’s the take away; I learned so much in the process of running the studio and indulging my passion. I took a chance; enthusiastically jumped in with both feet to build something I was passionate about. So, it didn’t work out as planned. I am wiser for having had the experience and know myself better as a result.

“It’s All Good.”

We’ve all heard it, said it and maybe even adopted it as a personal mantra. We’ve probably also had times in our lives where we even wanted to smack the person who said these words to us, because it didn’t feel so “all good” at the time. Let’s face it, life isn’t easy. We are presented with trials, challenges and frustrations that threaten our sense of patience and sanity.

Guess what? It’s all good.

Still though, sometimes we have a hard time accepting this truth, but it’s all in how you choose to look at it.

It’s pretty simple really. When life is going well and we are happy with work, life, family and friends and our mind is free from major stress, life feels pretty good, right? Life feels like one huge blessing. It’s pretty easy to say in that case “It’s All Good”.

But…all means all!

Light and dark exist simultaneously and therefore we cannot escape the shadow side of life. Eventually after a period of light, we endure a period of darkness. It’s inevitable. We all experience sadness, disappointment, anger, jealousy and insecurity along with a myriad of other unpleasant emotions at some point that we would prefer not to engage if we can help it. These emotions unhinge us creating a fertile breeding ground for change and transformation…if we allow it.

And that’s the rub; it’s a choice.

We can choose to exist in misery or self pity and continue to act and react in ways we have been conditioned to do so, reliving the same trials and suffering over and over again. Or we can make a conscious decision to dig a bit deeper, shine light upon that which vexes us and start to question the origin of our behavior, sadness and reactions. This process unearths ugly truths that have been swept under the carpet to the point that we are tripping over them constantly. By making that choice and doing the work we begin to uncover valuable lessons.

These are hard-won precious gems; nuggets of scintillating truth that are far more valuable than all the happy moments.

These lessons grant us wisdom about life and ourselves which ultimately foster our personal evolution, making us more conscious beings who make conscious choices and take conscious actions.

After having endured the lessons of the failed yoga studio, I learned that trying to juggle the responsibility of running a yoga studio while teaching detracts from my ability to teach from an inspired place. In the end, I know I’m happier simply teaching and giving my students what they need.

You see now…it really is all good.

No matter the circumstance,we either receive a blessing or a lesson. Lucky are those who see the lesson as also a blessing.

Relephant read:

It’s All Good…Or Is It? ~ Kathryn E. Livingston

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Author: Kristen Luther

Editor: Sara Kärpänen

Photo: elzoh/Flickr