Sometimes life gives us lemons. These lemons can take the form of unforeseen financial difficulties, setbacks in our careers, or unpleasant developments within relationships. As enterprising Souls, the best thing we can do, of course, is to make lemonade. We take the negative or unexpected life circumstances that we’ve attracted and turn them into learning opportunities. Eventually we emerge from these situations a little wiser and more aware than before.
Suffering arises only if we insist that life should have given us oranges. “These lemons aren’t mine,” we say. We tell ourselves we’ve been unfairly treated, that these things shouldn’t have happened to us. In the reality we are trying desperately to uphold for ourselves, we should have gotten oranges. We deserve oranges – what the heck is life giving us lemons for? And so we desperately try to turn our lemons into orange juice. The end product does not taste good.
Is there a lemon in your life that you insist on calling an orange? We cannot turn difficulty into growth without first acknowledging the life circumstances that we have created. If we keep insisting that life isn’t as it “should” be, we are forever avoiding ownership of the situation … and therefore, turning ourselves into victims of our circumstances. Instead, accept the lemons as your own creation. Sweeten them up with the sugar of awareness, and dilute them with the water of willingness to grow. You will find that those lemons serve you as a refreshing expansion of consciousness.
Blessings,
Andrea
