Turning 70 in 2021 was not what I expected it to be. I remember spending time with my grandmother who must have been 70 at that time and she spent her days knitting or staying in her bed playing solitaire. I can remember her teaching me several different versions of solitaire. I’m sure not anything like my grandmother, I love technology and learning new things and my knitting skills do not exist.

As I reflect on my life, I realize that for a great part of my life I felt that I was being followed by my own personal black cloud. I often times couldn’t understand why what I saw as “bad” things kept happening to me. I was a “good” person, why did “bad” things keep happening. I seemed to get over one crisis only to be faced with another one. I did have some “happy” periods, but then my black cloud would return. Four years ago, I started meditating and my views began to change.

Two years ago, I faced the biggest hurt of my life, but this time something was different instead of thinking that once again my black cloud had returned, I had an epiphany. All those times when I was faced with what I thought were “bad” things was really the Universe trying to teach me something. I had a shift in how I should be dealing with these challenges, figuring out what the Universe was trying to teach me became my focus. Last year was such an amazing year of growth and understanding.

I’m now listening to what my soul is telling me. I’m learning to do what makes me happy, sometimes that means figuring out why I think a certain way and learning to discard what is no longer useful and build on what truly is. I’m learning that life is full of growth opportunities and as soon as you think you’ve learned it all the Universe says: “Wait I’ve got more for you to learn”. Life is not supposed to be an easy road where everything falls in your lap and you are happy all the time. That would actually be quite boring. As a human being we need to grow and learn and this only happens if, when we are faced with challenges, we see them as learning experiences instead of a “black cloud”.