Life is full of ironies and contradictions. It is weird and wonderful. Tough yet forgiving. Long but also really fleeting. And life has its way of giving you hints and signals about where you should be going, how you are dealing with situations and people and if we are where we should be right now

But we sometimes get a little bit lost, we don’t get to where we want to be, we fail at our endeavours and who do we blame? Life. We say life is unfair and we look at others and think, why do they get to live the life that they want and I don’t?

But life is leading you where you need to be. It always is. The trick lies in being patient and being present to what is going on in the here and now.

In this post, 3 not-so-obvious ways that life is showing you the way & what you can learn from it.

#1 You will be presented situations and people that you CAN handle

Do you think the people that you meet, the things you end up doing are all coincidences? Not really.

In the spiritual world, there is this concept or belief called a “soul contract”. That our souls made a pact to take on this body and its related human experiences to learn something from our lifetime. In the many difficult situations and challenging people we will face in life, there’s always something to learn from the experience. For instance –

1. Staying in a relationship that you feel really sucks and you want to leave but feel you can’t (you soo can)
2. You’re in a job that you abso-freaking-Iutely hate. You drag your feet to work and every day is misery

You can probably think of somemore. Maybe in general you just don’t feel like you’re where you want to be in life. You are going on dates, on job interviews and not finding the right person or the right job.

Life just wants you to know, that if you look deeper into your current situation, if you allow yourself to feel into your experience, there are lessons to be learnt.

Not feeling your date or your current job? Or anything else in life? Think about the following questions:

• What is it do you not like about the person/ situation?
• What needs to change? What can you do to change it?
• What can you let go of?

Not liking yourself or the life you’re leading? Think about:

• What needs to happen for you to really like who you are and where you are?
• What are you not liking about your situation?
• How can you ensure you don’t do this to yourself again in future?

Many times we look at a situation or at someone whose presence annoys us and complain – what do we do to deserve this? Instead, flip that mindset around and ask yourself:

What can I learn from this? And what can I do to change things moving forward?

#2 Life will sometimes give you what you want – to make you realize it’s not what you TRULY want or need

In many LOA and spiritual teachings, you’ll see people constantly talk about manifesting. Manifesting a high-paying job, a hot date with that guy in Starbucks who keeps smiling at you, a house in that neighbourhood you’ve been eyeing for years etc.

Yes, if you desire something or someone and it’s meant to be in your experience, it’ll happen. But, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.

Sometimes, as we are on the outside looking in, we think that by having certain experiences or people in our lives, that our lives will be so much better and we will be so much happier.

But, sometimes life will hand you those situations and people you’ve been dreaming of to make you realise those aren’t the right things or people that will help you grow in this life journey.

Case in point, I once dated a guy I had a crush on for months, and had fantasies of us being together. I thought he was everything I wanted- tall, dark & handsome. But it was only when we got together that I found out he had a raging porn addiction, and it destroyed our relationship.

I also thought I’d be super fulfilled in a higher paying job. Took that on and realised that the high pay, status and position came with a high cost. A cost to both my mental & physical health. I became an emotional eater & ate so much junk I developed cholesterol, had mild osteoporosis and migraines every time I was working on a project. I also not only had poor support and a very divisive team, but a powerless manager that wasn’t assertive and allowed clients to do whatever they wanted.

You get the drift. Alot of times, this is life showing you that what you strongly wish for just isn’t good for you.

#3 When something doesn’t happen the way you wanted it to, trust that it was a blessing in disguise

I remember being really upset that I had to leave a company I loved being at because of an awful line manager. The company later had to close the branch I was at because it wasn’t profiting.

I also recall missing out on dating a guy in college whom I was infatuated with out once, but twice. I remembered thinking how dreamy he was and how wonderful we’d be together. He flirted with me, nothing happened, we graduated, he got married and last I heard, cheats on her regularly.

Bullet massively dodged in both cases.

Many times, when we miss the boat, be it getting fired from a job, not hired for a specific position you had been eyeing, missing out on dating a guy/girl that you had been eyeing for years, we tell ourselves that we’ve failed.

But no. It’s just life telling you that this isn’t the place you should be in. And that guy you are eyeing isn’t a good person or just isn’t a good fit for where you need to be in life.

#4) Sometimes the very thing you want comes when you’re ready, much later in life or in a very unexpected, indirect manner

Story time. As a young girl I was fascinated with the UK. I have always wanted to live there, be there and soak in the sights. I thought I could get a place in college there, at 19. Didn’t happen. Thought I could do an exchange there during university. Didn’t happen. Thought I would apply for a consulting job at a company in London. Didn’t happen.

It took waiting til I was 25 years old, 2 years into my second job for my boss to give me a chance to work for a couple of months in our UK HQ, did I finally make my way there. And my dream was fulfilled.

Another story. I had a client who was a researcher just like me, but her interest and heart always laid in being a Management Consultant. But she just never got the chance. She was either under-qualified, not experienced enough or just didn’t make the cut at group interviews (the industry can be ultra competitive).

She finally got her break 10 years into her career with a very lovely company, filled with talent sincere people (quite rate in certain consulting companies). And she didn’t even have to go through the usual tedious rounds of interviews, case studies and presentations.

So whenever you feel that you keep trying to achieve a goal or you feel that your dream is out of reach, don’t give up. Keep the dream alive, and if it’s meant for you, it’ll come to you in ways that your mind could not have dreamt of. Our human minds are incredibly limited.

And usually it’ll occur when you least expect it and in a way where you don’t have to take the long road or work super hard for. Life sometimes gives us what we want only when we are ready and our hearts are open to allow these opportunities to flow in.

Thoughts? Have you had these life experiences before?

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