Does it REALLY Matter?

"The only difference between a wise man and a fool

is that the wise man knows he's playing."

Fritz Pearls

So there you are; just a week ago you felt that you were completely awake and that the happiness you felt in your expanded state would never leave you. Then, almost without the slightest provocation, you find yourself facing some challenge in your life that suddenly knocks you on the head and the enlightenment you thought would never leave seems to have vanished without a trace. You start to take your life very seriously indeed, and feel lost, confused and alone. The mind (the voice in your head) tells you that you've failed, that you'll never be at peace again, and that all this spiritual stuff really doesn't work after all.

In these moments, it's a good idea to allow yourself to gain some perspective, and just take a breath and bring this question to your mind about whatever it is you are facing: 'Does this REALLY matter in the way I think it does? Will it matter a year from now, let alone 3 weeks? Hasn't every single challenge you have ever gone through eventually sorted itself out quite beautifully and moved you along to exactly where you need to be right now?

With this new found perspective, we can smile to ourselves and realize again that, no matter how seriously the mind may take everything, the reality is that NOTHING matters all that much in the long run. Todays sorrow becomes tomorrow's joy, yesterdays failed relationship becomes our new love, the job we lose transforms into finding the work we have always longed to do. When we 'lighten up' and begin to open to whatever unfolds in our life without resistance or fear, we begin to notice that the challenges we go through, pass out of our lives much more quickly, and that everything works out with effortless ease, for our highest benefit. All that is required is for us to ask the simple question of every situation we find ourselves facing; "When all is said and done, does this REALLY matter?"