You Are Exactly Where You Are Meant to Be

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.
_{Steve Jobs as quoted in Master the Future: Dominate Your Life with Foresight}

If you spend a lot of time on social media, you will see these words plastered on motivational messages across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: “You are exactly where you are meant to be.”

But let’s face it, when we are in the middle of extreme difficulty or pain, we often ask – why? Why is this happening to me? Why didn’t life go the way I had planned? Is this really where I am meant to be? Would life have been different if I had chosen a different course of action?

We spend a lot of time dwelling on the “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve” of the past. The fact is, the ups and downs we have to go through in life are all destined. Just as we cannot predict or change the course of the weather, we cannot predict or change the events of life. We have no other option but to go through what is written in our destiny.

The masters have said our destiny was written when we came into this world and we have to face it. Destiny will put us in situations that will facilitate settlement of our karmic debts. If you have to get hurt in an accident, you have to get hurt in an accident. Karmic debts have to be paid. There’s nothing we can do to change the course of events in our life. As the song goes, “Que Sera, Sera, Whatever will be, will be.”

There will be times of difficulty and sadness. But there will also be great times filled with joy and satisfaction. These ups and downs are inevitable. What matters is our attitude. Do we choose to be miserable and complain about the imperfections of this world? Or do we choose to just keep swimming in the sea of life?

A professor walked into her class with a glass of water. All the students were expecting her to ask if the glass was half full or half empty. But instead, she asked “How heavy is this glass of water?” Several students shouted their answers: “Eight ounces!” “Half a pound!” “Three-and-a-half ounces!”

The professor then replied, “From my perspective, the actual weight doesn’t really matter. It depends on how long I hold the glass. If it’s just for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for longer than an hour, my arm will probably start to hurt. If I hold it for much longer than that, I may start to feel cramps and may even drop the glass onto the floor. The weight of the glass doesn’t change. But the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels.”

The same can be said about everything we go through in life. If we think about our problems for just a little while, we feel light and can move on. But if we dwell on the stressful situations and obstacles, we feel the weight and become paralyzed, incapable of doing anything until we let go.

What is key is our attitude. We can choose to accept that we are exactly where we are meant to be – that everything that is happening is for a reason. We can put our trust in the Master, that whatever we are going through is meant to be and he will help us through it.

If we are attached to the spirit within, we definitely get strength to face that destiny cheerfully, without losing our balance.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. I}

Meditation helps us go through all the trials and tribulations of life, so that we can clear our karmic debt and travel to our true home. When we sit in meditation, we take steps towards our final destination.

It is difficult not knowing what comes next or why certain things in life are not going our way right now. But when we look back, we can connect the dots and realize that everything happened perfectly and that right now, we are exactly where we are meant to be.

We are very fortunate that the Lord has kept the reins in his own hand and that he chalks out a certain destiny for us to follow. If we had been given free will, I don’t know what mess we would have made. It’s lucky that all decisions already have been made and that we are just puppets dancing to the Lord’s tune. It’s very lucky. Even when we are confronted with a little decision, we can’t make it. And if we had to make a decision at every step in our life, I don’t know what mess we would make. So it’s better that the Lord is doing everything and we just remain a puppet.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. I}