There are multiple ways to view what happens to you in life. We as humans have labeled things "good" and "bad".
We are conditioned from a very young age to view the world as "good" or "bad" as "good" verses evil" or "light" verses "darkness". It's a tale as old as time.
Within these conditionings, it often makes us take stances very early on with how to deal with what life throws our way. We live in a society that strives for pleasure over pain, strives for easy over struggle, and views the end goal as the thing that will fulfill. The journey is viewed as what gets in the way. The "bad" is viewed as things that get in the way.
Certainly there are things in life that seem counterproductive to the expansion of humankind and restoration. For example, murdering seems to not accomplish much for us long term as humans. I would take a stance that, that is more often "bad" then "good".
But for the majority of us, we will never encounter something so horrific as that. So we are left with everyday "bad" things. These could be simple things, like the tire going flat on your car, or losing a project, or maybe your job changes. Our society has conditioned us to view these things as "bad".
In reality we should view all these things as just "life", or better yet as things that are here to teach us. There is wisdom in everything that happens to us and those around us. Even the most "bad" things have taught me so much. The majority of people would agree that when we are at are lowest points, only then can we actually start to become whole. Most of us get to rock bottom by doing "bad" things.
I am not suggesting that everyone has to hit rockbottom in order to be a whole human, but I am suggesting that our view of pain, struggle, and "bad" is often wrong and in reality those things are actually one hell of a teacher. In my life, I have learned more from my mistakes, then when I was just coasting along in life. Even the word mistake for me now is surrounded by grace and optimism. It is possible to redeem words.
I think I am just now starting to understand why we have the phrase "learn the hard way".
It's that very phrase though, that I want to exam. Is there any other way then the "hard way"? And within that, is the "hard way" so "bad"? Or is the depth and expansion and root laying stability we all need found in what society has labeled as "bad"? I am not implying that we have to be bad people or do "bad" things to have depth in life, but I have noticed that everything that I have experienced that is "bad" has taught me so much wisdom.
In the music industry there is a lot of "bad". Every time you present a project you have the chance for that thing to succeed or fail. There is often lots of critique and feedback. For most, they view these sorts of things as "bad". It can feel as if your getting personally attacked when your art gets treated as just another thing that could make money or not. Music makes money off peoples hurt and pain more often then not. Most of the biggest songs are about deep pain, heartbreak, and existential struggle to figure out, what the heck is going on here in life.
You have to figure out quickly how your going to handle those sorts of things in life or you just get knocked around.
Our current way of how we deal with things that are "bad" is often way too black and white. If something is hard or "bad" we avoid it. We build rules and organizations to protect us from it. We avoid it, we make up justifications on why things happen in order to soothe ourselves. We want to have an answer, we want to know why, and we want to know how to not deal with the "bad".
This creates a view of the world that is full of pessimism, divisions, and creates a perfect environment for all sorts of unfulfilled people.
The solution is to flip your mindset around and view everything "bad" that is in your life as wisdom. If your in a job you don't like, view it as clarity. To learn what you don't like doing is equally as helpfully as stumbling upon what you like doing. If you get hard "no" from someone about a song you loved and thought was a hit, learn from it. It is there to teach you something. If you are currently struggling with tons of stress and anxiety, it is here to teach you something.
The things we often avoid are actually our answers to moving forward.
Sometimes we have to go thru the "bad" in order to learn how to become whole. I have been applying this idea for a couple years. I have noticed that as I began to view everything in life as having the potential to teach me wisdom, everything in life has become more enjoyable.
Every situation has become interesting. Every time something disrupts my normal everyday flow, instead of resisting it or viewing it as "bad", I now investigate it, I am curious about it.
The more we resist something the stronger it gets and the more power it has over our life. Two people can be in the same situation and one can be totally at peace and happy while the other might be feeling like the current situation is their nightmare. This is interesting because essentially it is all dependent on your view of the world. For one person, it is good, for the other it is bad.
If you begin to train yourself to view the world as a place that is here to teach you things, all that is "good" and "bad" kind of vanishes. It instead all becomes chances to learn, grow, and become more whole. A baby has no idea what racism is or religion is until you inform them.
The things that are so "bad" to us are often direct arrows to things we have yet to resolve in our own life.
Because of fear, we avoid "bad". We label things as "bad" to avoid the conversation, to avoid having to face reality. The truth is, the sooner we deal with what we view as "bad" the more whole we get, the more depth we get, and the more full life gets.
May you see whats "bad" in your life as a chance to learn wisdom and become whole.