I used to believe that things come into my life as a result of where I was at as a person, my stage of development. So, I would ask myself thinks like, why is rejection coming to me right now? What am I trying to teach myself? And even more important, what can I change so that it doesn’t come again? What can I learn and do so that I don’t ever have to face this again?

The underlying assumption or hope was that the more I evolved the fewer of these difficult things would come into my life. Ah, the life of angles, of saints, of awakened beings…

Which is a great idea, a lovely dream to have. And it is entirely possible that really believing that makes it so.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked for me that way. So far, with all of the stages of evolution that I’ve moved through, these things still appear which has led me to a new idea.

What if rejection comes into my life, not as a commentary on where I am as a person, but because rejection is as normal as acceptance? That life is cyclic, like the seasons, that there is a natural flow of expansion and contraction, of action and rest, of growth and recovery, of complex and simple, of painful and nice, of rejection and acceptance. And that things like rejection will always arrive in their time.

My challenge then becomes to grow and evolve as a person and to deal with these cycles in healthier and better ways over time. And that on that mythical day when I finally sprout wings, that though I will still experience rejection as a part of the natural cycle of life, I will smile through the pain as it flows through, polish my halo and keep on going without wondering what I’ve done wrong. I will know that everything is just perfect, that these times are a part of the natural flow of life, as natural as the tides.

I like this dream even more.