by Kirsten Meneghello, Now What® Facilitator 
When we walk through life and continue to see doors close on potential paths we really wanted to go down, how do we react? With
frustration and anger? Or do we take the 10,000 foot view and realize that the Universe is trying to tell us something? Nudge, nudge. “Over here! Look over here!” And when we look back on past disappointments in our lives, we inevitably see how it all worked out for the best. For example, maybe that guy I really liked didn’t like me back. But then I met my future husband the next year and I was glad I single when I met him.
When we really, really want something (i.e. a new job) and we are holding on oh-so-tight, and then we don’t get the job of our dreams, we automatically attach meaning to it and create a story around it. It might go something like this: “I’m not good enough,” “I’ll never find the right job,” or “The economy is so bad right now, I’d be lucky to get a menial job at McDonald’s.” And that’s not what life is saying to us at all. There is no meaning attached to not getting the job except the meaning you create around it. Maybe it was just not the right job for you at this moment in time. Perhaps it’s not because you were thinking too big, but maybe you were thinking too SMALL. What if you were not meant to be a salesperson, but the manager of the sales team?
HOW we interpret our “failures” is essential to how we move forward.
A friend told me a story over the weekend about her friend, Susan. Susan was very unhappy in her job. She complained about it all the time. She had a long commute to and from work and couldn’t wait to find something else. Recently, Susan was laid off from her position. The universe heard her, sensed her energy around her job and gave her the option to explore something she would really like to do. When my friend saw Susan, she said “I bet you are so happy now that you’re out of that place.” And Susan’s eyes were frozen, like a deer in the headlights. She was scared because she was a single mom and not sure what to do next. Instead of feeling excited about the possibilities, she was terrified.
We need to pay attention to the doors that close and the doors that open. It’s really about the perspective we have that will make an amazing difference in how we see what is possible for ourselves.