Episode #81
Everything Is Working Out For Your Good
We're wired to label everything that happens to us — good, bad, disaster, blessing — often within seconds. But what if that instinct is exactly what keeps us anxious, reactive, and stuck? In this episode, I share two small stories from my own week. In the first, I left my bag in my husband's car — the one I needed for my pickleball class — and had to swing by his work to grab it, making me 15 minutes late. In the second, I shipped a birthday package to my niece serving on the other side of our own city, and somehow the tracking shows it in Saint Louis, Missouri — nowhere close to where it's supposed to be, and nowhere close to arriving by her birthday like I'd planned. In the moment, both felt like minor disasters. But they got me thinking about a Taoist parable I love: a farmer whose horse runs away, and who responds to every twist of fortune that follows — good news and bad — with the same two words: "maybe." I also share the story of Joseph, sold into slavery by his own brothers, who years later becomes the very man who saves them from famine, and tells them: "you meant it for evil, but it was meant for good." Both stories point to the same truth: we rarely have enough information in the moment to know how something will actually turn out. When we can keep the thought that "everything is working out for our good" — about a late morning, a lost package, or even something bigger, like a child making choices we don't agree with — we get to respond from a calmer, more grounded place instead of from fear. If you've ever been quick to call something a disaster, this episode is an invitation to consider how everything really is working out for your good.
