Enjoy the Unexpected Gift

 

Life is Random

“…It’s right to praise the random,

the tiny god of probability that brought us here,

to praise not meaning, but feeling, the still warm

sky at dusk, the light that lingers and the night

that when it comes, is gentle.”

Jacqueline Berger (from “Why I’m Here”)

          In Jacqueline Berger’s poem, “Why I’m Here,” she chronicles the chain of events that led to her being here, now. Her grandparents were Jews who left their village and came to America because of persecution. Her parents met by happenstance and survived the second world war because her father refused to work with weapons even though he was an atomic engineer. In many ways, we all arrive randomly; we are a mix of genes from people who were equally randomly arrived at. So much that impacts us in major ways is random—a car accident, an unplanned pregnancy, an unexpected meeting, a sudden loss of relationship. All our plans, all our hard work, can be nullified in the blink of an eye. And pure magic can happen just at randomly—a chance encounter, a quick glance across a room, an unexpected opportunity.

          I’m always surprised when something random and unexpected happens, especially if it’s good fortune. Once, when I was out of a job and terrified about what would happen next, someone pulled up to the curb while I was out walking my dog, and said they’d been reading my articles for a long time and would like for me to come teach in the program they ran. In fact, that’s happened twice in my life. Once, when grabbing a kombucha from the cooler in a health-food store, I ran into someone I’d met only briefly at a party. She was beginning a brand-new AmeriCorps program and needed someone to direct it. She offered me the job.

          We like to think we’re in charge of our lives, and that tricky devil, fate, lets us think it for a while—lets us run the leash out as though we are free agents. Then there’s a quick snap, and suddenly we’re in uncharted territory. We may look around, lost, not sure of our bearings for a while before we regain equilibrium. We must learn to trust life—it may not take us where we expect to go, but it will take us where we need to go. As executive leadership coach, Lolly Daskal advised, “Learn to trust the journey, even when you do not understand it.”

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane