For a long time, most of what happened to me was a bad thing. Or at least I labeled it that way. If someone didn’t do what I hoped they would, it was a bad thing. If things didn’t go the way I planned, it was a bad thing. If someone surprised me with a visit when I had some serious plans laid out for my day, it was a bad thing. I would say that about 90% of the things that happened to me were bad things. I constantly felt like I was trying to make it through storm after storm.
Of course, my life wasn’t that great because of it. I was stressed, worried, and upset with life in general because bad things kept happening to me, but then I started to have a different outlook. In hindsight, I could see that things usually worked out in my favor, even if they didn’t work the way I wanted to. For a long time, I didn’t have an affirmation to go along with this realization, but after taking The Quest For Personal Mastery by Srikumar Rao, I realized that my affirmation was simply, ‘Good thing, bad thing, who knows?‘
Good Thing, Bad Thing, Who Knows?
The first time my awareness opened up to this concept (even though I didn’t have this label) was while I was reading a story of a woman who never got upset about anything. One time, when her car broke down, she told her upset friend that they may have missed an accident up ahead and the broken car saved their life.
I thought about that for a long time. I still do. When something happens, I try to think about all the ways it could be a good thing for me.
Most of the time, I don’t guess right. I just don’t have enough psychic ability, I guess. But, it always turns out.
I’m always surprised at how things turn out for my best interest if I just stay cool and practice the thought, ‘Good thing, bad thing, who knows?’
I Have So Many Examples Of ‘Bad Things’ Turning Out To Be ‘Good Things’
I have a ton of examples of this concept. I’ll just name two big ones that stand out in my mind.
1. The Breakup
My boyfriend broke up with me, and I thought it was the end of the world. I had experienced breakups before, but this one hit me hard.
This affirmation of ‘Good thing, bad thing, who knows?’ was not even on my radar yet. I was in my early twenties and I defined my life by my intimate relationships, so being single felt horrible to me.
But, as the months went on, I had space to think about how I defined my life, what was important to me, and who I wanted in my life. I wouldn’t have had that space or gathered that awareness if he hadn’t broken up with me. And the next guy I dated was an actual good guy (the first good guy I had ever dated), who I am still with 15 years later.
Turns out that my boyfriend breaking up with me was a very good thing. It set me on a path of personal development and helped me get into a loving, rewarding relationship. If I had stayed with him for a long time, who knows where I would be right now.
2. Losing Two Freelance Gigs
I have worked in many physical places in my life. But, eventually, I found myself freelance writing for a few people online. I had steady clients who paid very well, but for years I stressed about not being able to do my own thing and create my own stuff.
Within the span of a month, my clients both stopped needing my services. I labeled it as a very bad thing. My income was gone. I hadn’t had any time to build up my own businesses to make money. I was devastated.
Looking back now, I can see how much of a good thing it was. It forced me to get busy working for myself and allowed me the freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted. I had gathered a ton of knowledge from writing for those two clients that I could apply to my own writing. I started to build up my businesses and start earning passive income that keeps food on the table and the bills paid.
If I still worked for those clients, I would have never had the time to create my own stuff and start earning consistent money from something that only depended on me.
Losing those freelance jobs was a very good thing.
Start Using This Affirmation And Things Won’t Look Or Be So Bad
If you are tired of feeling like life is out to get you, start using the affirmation, ‘Good thing, bad thing, who knows?’ every time something happens to you.
Even if it’s a seemingly good thing, use this affirmation. Because something good could result in something that could be labeled as bad.
This affirmation will help you observe the situation without letting it stop you from doing what you need to do.
For instance, if you lose a client, you won’t sit around and mope because you will know that there may not be anything to sulk over. It may result in something good. Instead of sulking, you will get busy working on finding a new client, putting more attention towards your current clients, or some other action that pushes you forward.
Life really does get easier when you adopt the affirmation, ‘Good thing, bad thing, who knows?’ as a daily mantra.
