This week’s MIBE Message takes inspiration from a Taoist story that was shared with me by my good friend Mike Mahon.

An old farmer worked his crops for many years. One day his horse runs away. And his neighbor comes over and says, to commiserate, “I’m so sorry about your horse.” And the farmer says “May be, Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?” The neighbor is confused because this is clearly terrible. The horse is the most valuable thing he owns.

But the horse comes back the next day and he brings with him 3 wild horses. The neighbor comes back over to celebrate, “Congratulations on your great fortune!” And the farmer replies again: “May be, Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?”

The next day the farmer’s son is taming one of the wild horses and he’s thrown and breaks his leg. The neighbor comes back over, “I’m so sorry about your son.” The farmer repeats: “May be, Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?”

Sure enough, the next day the army comes through their village and is conscripting able-bodied young men to go and fight in war, but the son is spared because of his broken leg. The neighbor congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "May be, Who Knows What’s Good or Bad" said the farmer.

I have been guilty of judging many things in my life as good or bad. It’s second nature for us to do so as we are conditioned to categorize the events that happen to us. But what if those events aren’t happening to us, what if they are happening for us? If we can take a step back and gain some perspective, we can get off the roller coaster of good or bad and get on a path of progress. We can give ourselves the gift of the bigger picture, allowing events to play out over a longer period of time and learn from everything that occurs. There are certain things that are out of our control, but how we interpret them and respond is completely within our control.

The wild swings that take us from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows can be fun for a short period of time, but eventually it is exhausting and can make us sick if we stay on for too long. Context is a critical component to a smoother ride through life. If we take things as they are and make the best of our circumstances we stay away from being the victim and take back control of our own happiness. There are countless examples of people who have created “good” out of what seemed “bad”. I don’t think there are many people who would consider COVID-19 a good thing, but I can assure you there are countless stories out there of people using this situation to fuel future growth and amazing things that have been sparked by something most of us would judge as “bad”. As you look back on what the past year has brought to your life, will your story be one of them?