As a child I frequently found myself asking “Why not?” The most popular response inevitably fell into some version of “Because I said so.”
Sound familiar?
That answer was never very satisfying to my inquisitive mind.
Eventually I even married someone with this last name. For real. How does that happen? Unrelenting curiosity and a refusal to take “Because I said so” for an answer?
When a doctor told me that I would just have to live with sinus problems I silently responded on the way out of his office, “I don’t think so.” Fortunately, as a result of still being adverse to “Because I said so,” this diagnosis sent me searching for answers rather than into resignation.
The medical community was telling me that I couldn’t overcome my chronic condition and I wanted to know, “Why not?” The answers that have brought relief to my physical, social and financial discord have been my God-honest responses to questions such as, “Why me?” “Why this?” “Why now?” “Why not?” This yearning to understand life’s offerings even led to a career-change from the field of business to that of holistic counselor but my studies didn’t end there.
“The only source of knowledge is experience.” ~ Albert Einstein
I used to be one of those people who would be quick to tell you that something didn’t bother me when deep down inside it did. That was how I had learned to cope. I was even proud of how I had mastered this version of pridefulness. But it was this dishonest methodology that led to my health problems, relationship discord and financial challenges.
We are in a relationship with everything—with people, with our health, and even with our finances. Experience is our teacher. When the fruit of our labors is health, relationship or financial discord, it is a heads-up that we may have encountered an insane coping skill such as pridefulness. Insane, because it is incapable of providing us with the results our hearts are seeking.
“You cannot evaluate an insane belief system from within it,” states the Foundation for Inner Peace's edition of A Course in Miracles.
Excerpt from “Why Me? Why Now? WHY NOT? Finding Opportunity In Your Obstacles” by Trish Whynot
