I love this quote by Austin Kleon (Steal Like an Artist) –
“You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life.”
If you have not read this book, give it a try. It is a great resource; full of wisdom, humor and common sense. Also, a quick, easy read. One of those that you can read a page or two at a time as you find the time, and get something out of in bite sized chunks.
Back to the quote…giving it some thought, I’ve come up with some conclusions of my own.
What we let into our lives may be the things that we intentionally bring in, or those things that come about on their own. In either case, letting them in shapes us for better or worse. How many times have I been so determined to have something go one way and it all turned out poorly…thankfully, not too many. But, it has happened.
On the other end of the spectrum, are those really cool times when something comes around completely unexpected and we let it in and voila! A beautiful outcome. Maybe even something that changes the entire course of our life for the better. Defining moments.
Merriam-Webster defines serendipity as: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.
Or, to put it another way, the best things might happen when we are not even looking for them.
I think back to my first house. It came with a fantastic garden, lovingly established by the previous owner. Theretofore, I had never done one lick of gardening. While I could appreciate the beauty of a nice garden, I’d not given a second thought to getting my very own hands down in the dirt. I was a city girl, living the exciting party life. But for some reason, I sunk right into that garden. Had I never ended up in that house, would I have never become the avid gardener? I think this was one of those defining moments in my life.
These days, I mostly take care to let only positives into my life. There will always be negatives that come about without my permission. The best way for me to manage those is to dismiss them as quickly as possible and keep only the lessons that they may have taught me.
People, places, events…all the things that come into our reality – grab the things that’ll be good for you, let the rest just go on by.
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