Cheers,

By Christine Kloser

I’ve always loved the phrase, “everything happens for a reason.”  It’s been a motto of mine for many years.  Whether it was something outrageously fantastic like my wedding day, or something more challenging like suffering a miscarriage… I’ve always had a core belief that everything really does happen for a reason.

But, goodness knows, there have been moments in which LIVING this statement proved to be much more challenging than simply saying it.  I’ve cried many tears, doubted many things, and asked “why me” many times before… feeling as if everyone had a charmed life, except for me. 

You see, I think there was a surface part of me that wanted the “reason” to feel good!  I wanted to believe that everything happened for the reason of me feeling happy, satisfied, fulfilled, on purpose, blessed, safe, loved, protected, connected, trusting, and joyful. 

But, that’s not how the Universe works.  Everything happens to lead you to your highest good, yet, many times, that can feel like walking through fire.  Things always DO happen for a reason, but often times that reason is for your healing, for releasing, for letting go, for taking responsibility, for digging deeper into the core of who you are.  And, it doesn’t always feel good in the process.  If you’ve ever felt like the Universe is testing you to see what you’re really made of, you know what I’m talking about here.

How can you begin to surrender (in the moment) and release the struggle so you can more gracefully discover the true and highest reason for what is happening?  I’d like to share two tips that help me when I’m in this place of looking for the gift (the reason) in the middle of a challenge.

First, whatever you do, don’t obsess about the experience that has shown up for you.  Obsessing about it, and getting all worked up about it is only going to contract your energy, which will make a peaceful resolution much more challenging.  Believe me, I know about this one.  When I had a difficult challenge with a client last year, my knee-jerk reaction was to contract like crazy because it brought up a lot of fear in me.  With help and support, I was able to release the contraction, speak my truth, have honest communications with this client, and find a resolution to the challenge that would work for both of us.  Had I stayed focused on the fear of the challenge, I can assure you the peaceful resolution would not have unfolded as it did.   

So, the next time something “happens” and you want to discover the gifts from the challenges… breathe!  Yes, breathe and release your emotional grip on the situation.  This will allow you to open some space within yourself for the gifts, blessings and resolution to surface. 

And, my second tip is one of the great questions my spiritual teacher has offered for contemplation.  The question is to ask, “What is the highest?”  In other words, look at the situation that’s causing your contraction/challenge, and in the moment allow yourself to contemplate what the highest may be out of that situation.  How could this situation be serving the absolute HIGHEST in you?

With the client I mentioned earlier, at first it was quite a challenge to see the highest.  Quite honestly, with that situation all I saw was fear in the beginning.  But, then as I handled it from a more spiritually mature perspective, I began to see that this challenging experience was teaching me so much about the types of clients I wanted to work with, what work I really wanted to be doing, where I had compromised myself, not listened to my intuition, not spoken my truth, etc.  I could probably write a book about all of the gifts I received through this challenge.

So, the next time you’re faced with a challenge (no matter how big or small), ask yourself what the highest possible outcome could be.  And, then take aligned action based on that understanding.  Just “one step at a time” toward your highest good will make a big difference in shifting your outcome… and help you discover the reason why the situation showed up in the first place.

© 2010 Christine Kloser

Christine Kloser is the award-winning author of The Freedom Formula and Conscious Entrepreneurs.  She is widely recognized as an expert in the field of conscious entrepreneurship having spoken alongside such luminaries as Neale Donald Walsch, Dr. Joe Vitale, Arielle Ford, James Twyman and Marianne Williamson. Christine works with entrepreneurs to embrace a new paradigm of success… helping them experience true freedom and fulfillment in their life and their business.  Get a F R E E chapter of her award-winning book, The Freedom Formula at www.thefreedomformula.com/freechapter.