Life has an uncanny skill of launching curve balls and even though you may squirm with repulsion at the resultant change on your doorstep, you’ll be surprised at how often those curve balls bear peachy fruits.

Caste your mind back to the last time you felt like the rug had been pulled from under your feet. Initially, most of us feel, as the metaphor would dictate, flat on our backs with limbs flailing as we grapple to regain our old position.

Then, as the well of emotions flood through us, the poised pen of mind dips in and compiles the stories, each one more elaborate than the last. If only I had …; If he or she were more …; I should have …; I am always unlucky in …; I will never be able to …; This is just typical of my life!

If we keep telling ourselves how bad something is, and more elaborate versions of that, we’re not going to feel better any time soon.

With each story and its internal rehearsal, the victim camp sucks us into its folds of regret or revenge or some other form of suffering. Yet if we stilled the mental chatter, in other words removed the tormenting thoughts, and just allowed the feelings to be, without analysis, the emotive flood would soon subside. If, like me, your mental chatter rivals the busiest market places in the frenzy ratings, focus on your breathing. It has a magical way of reintroducing peace.

From the vantage point of peace, we are better equipped to accept the exact reality of our new situation and move towards new potentials within and around us.

Often catastrophic events are just the wake-up call we need. For example, the sudden departure of your boyfriend may lead you to the realisation that you were merely existing in his shadows with little thought, let alone pursuit, of your own interests or dreams. And if that were the case, how fulfilling would the relationship have been from the boyfriend’s perspective? Losing your job could push you into trying out that new venture you had filed under longed-for-dreams.

We can interpret the way life coaches us, as the true self’s way of being heard. Sometimes there are whisperings, little nudges, hitches, or downright, gut-wrenching blows.

If we turn a deaf ear to the true self’s desires, yet fail to explain our all seasons’ discontent, the body can turn up the volume through nagging aches and pains, lack of energy, fatigue, weight issues and much more.

When we tune into our true self’s voice, we begin to understand the intricate weave of life’s pulls and pushes, where once we fobbed it off as coincidence.