Bad Luck? Good luck? Who knows?
When Bad can be Good
How can bad be good?
I would like to first illustrate this through an old Zen Chinese story :
A wise Chinese farmer and son had only one horse to plow the fields.
One day, the horse escaped and disappeared into the woods . When the neighboring villagers tried to console the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows!”
Days later, the horse returned with a herd of 12 wild horses. This time the villagers also came back to congratulate the farmer on his good luck.
His reply was “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?”
The next day, while trying to train the wild horses to till the farm, the farmer’s son fell off a horses back and broke his leg. The villagers once again thought this was very bad luck but again he farmer replied:
“Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”
A week later, the king’s army marched into the village and enlisted every able-bodied youth they could find. When they saw the farmer’s son with his broken leg, they left him.
The villagers returned rejoicing and congratulating the farmer’s good luck but again the farmer replied:
“Good luck ? Bad luck? Who knows?”
Source: Chinese Zen Fable
We don’t know everything. Sometimes when we let go of being right about what we think we know, we can end our suffering.
The moment you label a situation wrong, not right, or a problem, suffering begins within you. A host of negative emotions may arise including anger, anxiety, worry and fear.
Test this for yourself.
Bad can be good. When we accept that we do not know what’s going to happen we can navigate our internal GPS down the right path.
“Sometimes you have to work with what you’ve got, accept what happens and move on”- Lolly Daskal
Through acceptance of what is, one can turn a bad situation into something good.
It gives us the opportunity to practice being calm in the face of chaos. Refusing thoughts of anxiety, worry and fear that cloud our judgement. Therefore giving us the space to focus on the solution with clarity.
Then, who Knows? When the smoke clears, you can realize that the situation is not even as bad as you thought. Even better, it can actually be good.
Always remain optimistic because bad can be good. Because bad luck, good luck, who knows what doors may open up.
A missed train, traffic jam or missed opportunity can save your life!
The Chinese fable is in alignment with 4 of my personal stories:
1)I overslept on 9/11/01 when I was literally suppose to be on the top floor of the World Trade Center at 8:30 am. BAD.
However this was around the time the planes crashed into the NYC Twin Towers. My life was saved. GOOD!
2) Masked men with machine guns held up my family, duct taped our mouths and asked us all to kneel and lay our head down on the bed covering our heads with pillows. BAD.
The robbers ran out after a scare, tripped over a vase that uncovered $10,000 in cash of my family’s life savings lost 3 years prior. The exact amount needed to save my family’s house from being foreclosed. GOOD!
(The cops said they were planning to assassinate us but obviously didn’t because I’m alive to tell an eighth of the story. GOOD!
3)My son fell hard on his head and needed brain surgery to have a tumor removed. BAD
The surgeon said it was the BEST thing that could've happened to him! The tumor, it turned out, had always been there. If my son didn’t fall skateboarding as a child, he could have grown up with this unknown tumor and unexpectedly died while driving! By the way, the doctor said he may not walk again but my son taught himself how to walk. A miracle! GOOD!
4)The Covid-19 crisis caused the loss of jobs. BAD.
Through Covid, my family became closer and focused on how to turn our passion into making a living online. GOOD!
Bad can be good.
Although it may be hard, there is a higher intention to our problems we may not see yet; lessons to be learned. Sometimes when bad just seems to be plain BAD, the most we can salvage out of a problem or bad situation is to ask ourselves “what lessons can I learn from this right now?”
When we are present to what is actually happening rather than what might happen, this allows us to see things as they are and not a figment of our imagination based on anxiety, worry and fear.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
One can overreact to negative perceptions of a situation. This can cause a bad situation to be even worse and a good thing to be bad. When we are present, we are more open to possibilities.
Sometimes letting go of control of what’s happening is the best thing you can do for your sanity in the worst of times. To think you know the future can cause just as much suffering as dwelling on the past.
We don’t know everything because good luck, bad luck ? Who knows?
Bad can be good.
