In Happy
for no Reason, Marci Shimoff
recommends assuming that the universe is
friendly and has your best interests at heart,
and everything that happens is for your good.
When I first read this, I thought it was naïve
and silly, not to say blatantly untrue, but she
recommends trying it for a week. You don’t
have to believe it for real, just assume it for
the sake of argument, the way something is
assumed at the beginning of a math proof.
Then go about life and see how you feel.
Although I thought it was ridiculous, I tried it
anyway. I couldn’t believe how much better I
felt! The more I looked at things this way—not
even from belief, just from exploration of how
it could be true—the more it seemed to be
true, the more benevolent and nurturing the
universe felt to me, and the easier I found it to
be happy.
In reality, the universe could be
benevolent,
malevolent, or neutral, but it almost
doesn’t
matter. If you assume that everything
happens
for your benefit somehow, and use that
assumption to look for the good or
something
to learn in each situation, then you
really do
get something good out of every
situation.
Who wouldn’t want that? It’s like
magic with no
magic required.
