When Things go Awry


We are always trying to find the best way forward and do things well, but we all know that life has a way of challenging us in unexpected ways.
Finding the trust in this experience can be difficult especially when faced with situations that seem disastrous. Things are never as bad as they seem but we, as the person in charge, take responsibility not only for our actions but usually and unnecessarily for the outcomes thereof.  This can sometimes seem overwhelming when things go awry.

I remember, as a new graduate, the fretful and stressful situations that we find ourselves in when we lack appropriate supervision and guidance in our new profession. With time, we learn to be more confident in our abilities and the services we provide. There are always going to be unpredictable events throughout our entire working life but if we are to survive we develop better skills and abilities. Much of this is personal development.

Sri Chinmoy says we must always take failure as an experience. We should not take failure as a finished product or as a culmination of an experience, but rather as the process of an experience.

It’s the ability to accept these experiences that will determine how we cope in life. We all find our own ways to learn to manage stress and how we operate as individuals. Now that the technological and commercial world is changing faster than we are evolving both as human beings and as a planet, we and our Mother Earth, are under more pressure than ever before, seen or unseen.

This morning’s meditation from ‘My Life’s Souls-Journey’ by Sri Chinmoy reminded me how I manage to find meaning and direction in my own life.

“Inner obedience is the conscious recognition of one’s higher life, higher reality, higher existence.”

“Inner obedience is a supreme virtue. Inner obedience is the achievement of one’s true knowledge. When we obey the higher principles, higher laws, we love.
When we love, we become. And when we become, we come to realise that we eternally are the Eternal Now. We listen to the Inner Pilot, who is guiding our destiny, who is moulding and shaping us in His own way. A seeker also tries to obey his inner voice. But very often a wrong voice will create unimaginable problems for the seeker. How will the seeker differentiate the real from the unreal, the right from the wrong? A sincere seeker will be able to distinguish a wrong voice if he notices that the voice wants him to get satisfaction from its message in a specific way, with specific results. If the voice makes him feel that satisfaction will come only if victory dawns, if success comes, then he knows it is a wrong voice. When defeat looms large at the end of his action, and the seeker is doomed to disappointment, then he has to know it was a wrong voice. The right voice, the divine voice, will only inspire the seeker to right actions. The right voice does not care for results as such. “

“Each divine thought
That comes to you
Will come to you, without fail,
Like the sunrise.”

Following a meditation lifestyle has enabled me to stay afloat in a world of challenges. Prior to this period I was buffeted by doubts and demands that both the world and I, myself, put upon me.

Fortunately, I have always had a good sense of humour but until recently had not known how to use this asset to my advantage.

“The most wasted of all days is that during which one has not laughed”. Nicholas De Chamfort

This doesn’t mean that my life is perfect, far from it, but it gives me a firmer foundation to base my decisions and actions knowing, that in large part, they are guided from my higher self.

Keeping priorities determines success. Identifying them can be difficult.
Trusting in them is the key.

Of the people I know who manage their lives well there are very few who have not developed this awareness of their higher selves.  Practising with humility and love whilst maintaining strength and persistence can be difficult.
A mind of division and competition can destroy the inner peace and oneness that is necessary to continue to practice, serve and live well.

I am privileged to belong to a profession with members who recognise and value these inner qualities and who also strive to bring them to the fore. The clients attracted to our practices are appreciative of our skills in these areas as much as they are of our professional expertise because it is a foundation for deep trust in a client-patient-veterinarian relationship.

It is easier to be a better citizen of the world when we are happy and when fewer things go wrong. Ironically the more we seek to control, the more elusive this becomes. Once we surrender, with trust, to the higher inspiration, to our inner voice, to our wide surprise, we realise there are no such things as mistakes.
We are all just having experiences together.

This post is dedicated to my colleagues, Charissa, Kate, Megan and Susan with gratitude

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