Don't ask "Why?" - Ask "What now?"
One of the biggest and most persistent lessons I've learned is my struggle with the question "WHY?" I came to learn that it's quite natural for me to ask why whenever something out of the ordinary happens. The bigger lesson is how futile and pointless that is. All the thoughts, pondering and mental energy exerted on this topic is always wasteful because it doesn't help resolving the situation at all. For example, even as the best and most careful driver, the icy roads may lead you to a car accident. You may wonder "Why?" and you may come up with answers, such as weather, act of God or even Karma, but your car is still messed up. You may feel slightly better that this accident is seemingly no fault of your own, and not a result of someone's vengeance or negligence against you. But once again, your car is still messed up. Neither the "Why?" or the "because" can do anything to address the banged up car. I realized that the question more worthy of our thoughts and energy is "What now?" In the same scenario, the answer is our opportunity to capitalize on the force of the current and use it to get us farther than we could ever get on our own. Perhaps, our car has been falling apart but because of our emotional attachment, we keep patching it up to avoid having to let it go. This may cause unsafe driving issues for ourselves and others. We can take this car accident, and hopefully the insurance pay out at the other end, as a nudge from the universe to trade in this car for a newer and better car? Or, learn that we're not as adept in driving on icy roads as we'd thought and either avoid driving in similar conditions or get more practice for safe driving in winter conditions. Either/both will serve us well in the long run.
