It is a long held Yogic and esoteric belief there is a “teacher” or teaching in everything. Everyone you meet and everything which occurs, positive or negative, all of it is a “teacher.”
In other words, there is something to be learned and accessed by everything we do, and through everyone we encounter. Especially the hard stuff, the annoying, the abrasive, the challenging. All of it is an opportunity to look for the teacher.
We do not really get to pick and choose who and what we come up against in life. We think we do…we try mightily to control other people and situations, but deep down we know we cannot. Life has a way of picking
and choosing for us. If we resist, the teacher will dole out tougher lessons, if we surrender we grow and flow.
The thing is to start to recognize the teacher in yourself and others. The teacher in the circumstances. Once you see it, you can hold the lesson up to the light, and pause. Wait for the compassion. Let go of the judgment. The judgement comes from our conditioned belief we are separate from everything else. We are not. The web of connection binds us to one another. To each and every life experience, to our words, our thoughts, our feelings and projections.
If we release this illusion of separateness we can see the teacher. Be the teacher.
So the next time life throws you a curve ball, even if it is something incredibly difficult, look for the teacher.
The next time someone drives you nuts, look for the teacher. The lesson could be mirroring yourself. Your own shadows and fears. Or it could be to lose the judgement and control and to find the compassion. The understanding of being.
We have this capacity, we are capable of finding the teacher, and heeding the lessons. We can feel the inherent connection in all things with understanding and compassion and allow ourselves to flow.