Does Everything Happen For A Reason?

A recent conversation with a friend had me thinking – does everything actually happen for a reason?

It would be lovely if there was a higher power at work…laying out our path exactly in the direction we should be moving.

At times, thinking “everything happens for a reason” can be comforting. It can give us a sense of surety in how our lives our unfolding.

However, thinking “everything happens for a reason” can also feel discouraging. It makes us try to justify why terrible things happen.

Personally, I believe thinking “everything happens for a reason” comes from hindsight being 20/20. Looking back on our lives and assigning a reason to why things happened the way they did is part of the coping process. With that coping comes the ability to move forward with a different perspective.

Nonetheless, thinking “everything happens for a reason” likely comes from a combination of two things – half being a higher power laying out our path, and the other half being our ability to cope with the inevitable changes in our lives.

In many ways, thinking “everything happens for a reason” can be a catalyst for coping. Instead of ruminating over how things have played out, believing that everyone and everything in our life has served some sort of purpose can be reassuring.

Here’s a few examples:

“If me and my ex-partner never broke up, I never would have met my current partner.”

“If I would have been hired at that one company, I never realized I wanted to work in marketing instead.”

Whatever your reasons are, thinking “everything happens for a reason” is a valid – and important – way to accept what is in our past, settle into the present moment, and embrace the future.