It seems like I’ve lived my life on a roller coaster of emotion. Up one day, down the next. Sometimes twisting around curves certain that at the other end is an experience so worrisome that I didn’t even notice where I really was at that given moment.

Whether we’re having the same experience over and over again, or it feels like the other shoe is about to drop, we want off this ride. Where is the peace, the joy, the wonderful life that we are meant to have?

What I’ve come to realize is that when I quit focusing on what isn’t going the way I thought it should, I can actually see what is. We didn’t come here to live the perfect life. We had that before we were born. (Okay, that assumes you believe that you’re a soul having a human experience.) What we have is the ability to experience the miracle of being human, and being human means there is joy and pain, happiness and misery, suffering and relief. None of those conditions are permanent anymore than life is.

If we choose to appreciate the experience, regardless of whether we consider it “good” or “bad,” we discover that life isn’t a roller coaster. It’s an amazing journey and exactly what we hoped for.