“Very Good. Very Good.”

I can still hear Gandhar, one of the main yoga teachers in my first yoga teacher training in India, saying these words.

He said them for everything.  Whatever was happening in life.  Spilt a bowl of curry all over the floor “Very Good Very Good”.  Did a handstand “Very Good Very Good”.  

It was sweet.  We all loved it and happily took up this mantra.  It became a part of our days.

It wasn’t until today that I realized the significance of this teaching.

And it is a teaching I have received many times since this original version, in ever increasing levels of depth.

The teaching:  The idea that everything is happening for a reason.  That everything is in our favor.  That it is happening “For Me”.

It’s the concept of soul contracts.  That WE come into this life deciding what we are going to learn.  And the experiences we have, challenging especially, are here to help our soul’s evolution.

The WE is the big WE.  Not our protective personality (or ego as some would call it) but the soul.

In the energy codes work of Dr. Sue we call it the bus stop conversation.  That mythical bus stop in the heavens where we wait for our time to shoot down the birth canal and into life.  It is there that we make agreements with other souls on how we will help each other fulfill our soul missions.  

And in these roles we play some will be the perpetrators, others the victims, some the heroes, some the teachers.  At some point we all play the different archetypes.

And while this isn’t literal, I believe that we are encoded with energy patterns that attract certain frequencies, people, and situations.  That these energy patterns are connected to what we came onto this earth plane to learn, share and how we wish to evolve.

This can be a very confronting idea.  

A few years after Gandhar’s very sweet version of this teaching, I came across a book that challenged me on every level.  “God I am” by Peter Erbe was my true introduction to soul contracts.  And an introduction into the idea that even the worst perpetrators were only playing a role.  I was in deep resistance and put the book away.

In time I integrated the concepts and now am grateful when they are shared in an empowering way.

This way of seeing situations has been a guiding North Star in my own deep challenges.

It has been something to cling to when I didn’t understand or see a way out.  And it has allowed a deep trust in life, a higher purpose, a bigger plan.

Coming full circle here is the most recent (and profound) version - the one that brought “Very Good Very Good” to mind.

In a workshop with Dr. Sue this weekend she introduced us to “What a Blessing”

I love these words!

Imagine if everything that happens in life is a blessing.  

“Very Good Very Good” and “What a Blessing” … and everything in between …

How does life feel when we infuse those words into the moments in life when we feel challenged, scared, upset?

How does that help us shift our perspective?

How does it help us harvest the gifts and treasures buried beneath the muck?