“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” -Winston Churchill
As we move through the world, even so-called reversals of fortune can be taken as gifts for our refinement. Such challenges can help us come to the highest version of ourselves. This is the quintessential attitude of a person steeped in gratitude.
Whenever there’s a difficulty, step back, observe the overall situation, and ask the question, “What’s the lesson?” If we do that, then it’s a perfect opportunity to grow. Historically, in my life and the lives of others, what looks bad often turns out to be good. There are plenty of opportunities for setbacks. If I can elevate myself by understanding this principle and practicing it to the point where I can extract the valuable lesson in any setback or difficulty, then I become extremely spiritually wealthy.
I know a man in India who became a multimillionaire by collecting old and broken smartphones from all the municipalities where people were throwing them away. He discovered that there was a tiny little piece of gold in every smartphone. It wasn’t worth it to extract them one at a time, so nobody took the trouble. However, he got an operation going, hired a bunch of people, got tens of thousands of smartphones, and took out the little specks of gold. Eventually he collected pounds and pounds of pure gold, and that was the start of his enterprise.
Similarly, as spiritual entrepreneurs we can ask, “Where’s the little speck of pure gold within this situation?” Whenever there’s a setback or difficulty, if we’re able to say, “Yes, let’s put it through the process, get rid of all the chafe, extract that tiny little dab of gold and store it,” then we become wealthy.
This excerpt is from Vaisesika’s upcoming book, Your Seven Spiritual Superpowers. Want more wisdom? Join his weekly zoom class here!
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