Our Fate is Matched by the Total-Daily Meditation 8.28.23

Today’s quotation:

Our fate is matched by the total freedom we have to react to our fate.  It is as if we were dealt a hand of cards.  Once we have them, we are free to play them as we choose.-Thomas Sowell

Today’s Meditation:

We often hear people bemoan their fate, complaining about how unfair it is to them.  But we also hear people to whom fate has dealt a much more difficult hand not only not complain but actually show gratitude for what they have in life rather than bemoaning what they see as wrongs.  I hope that I can generally be in this latter group because I don’t want the chances of energy to have the ability to make me miserable.

I get inspired by people who go through trials and come out of them, not just surviving but thriving.  People who have been abused can use their experiences to help other people who are going through similar problems.  People who have dealt with cancer or other serious illnesses can take what they’ve learned from their problems and find ways to help others with what they’ve gone through.

Of course, the card metaphor can only go so far.  If you’re playing poker and have a really awful hand, you may be able to bluff your way through it, but you still have a terrible hand.  With a good bluff, the worst possible hand can win, but one of the rules of cards is the importance of knowing when to fold and wait for the next hand.  Life doesn’t give us the luxury of folding, though we can decide to leave certain situations when we learn that they’re causing us damage.

Life is going to give you some unexpected things.  What you do with what comes your way is up to you.  Has something awful just happened?  Then, what can you learn from it to make you more humble, loving, caring, and wise?  If we whine about our fate, we’re giving power to the concept of chance; if we decide to make the most of our fate, then we’re taking the lessons that life has to offer and learning what we can.

Questions to consider:

Is life unfair to anyone?  Or is life objective?

How does fate treat you usually?  How do you respond to the ways that it treats you?

Do you have the freedom to react to life as you will?  Do you usually respond in positive or negative ways?

For further thought:

Just because Fate doesn’t deal you the right cards, it doesn’t mean you should give up.  It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential.

Les Brown

If you missed our last one, it is here.