Finding a parking space is often a stressful experience. I can search for ages looking for the perfect spot. After choosing one, I often kick myself when I realize that I could have gotten an even better place if I had continued searching.
I was struck when I read Dan Heath's experience in Upstream:
“I was driving myself crazy trying to find a close space. It was madness. So now I always park in the most remote spot in the lot. I think of it as a ‘VIP spot,’ away from the other cars. I get some extra steps and don’t stress about finding a spot. It’s such a wonderful sense of relief, like I’ve purged that concern forever from my life.”
A "VIP spot." That's genius.
Instead of feeling stressed looking for a spot (and wasting gas and time going in circles), Heath was able to flip things around and feel like a VIP.
It's not just parking. Many situations in life are flippable.
The pain we've experienced can make us more empathetic.
The difficult person in our lives can teach us patience and healthy boundaries.
The evils of our world can be, as Pope Francis says, "challenges which can help us to grow."
In the spiritual life, we may not be able to prevent spiritual desolation, but being open to the flip can be a significant way we fight it.
Personally, I like to laugh at the evil spirit and say, “You think you’re bringing me down. Well, with the help of God, I’m going to use this experience to grow.”
Of course, before any flipping, we may need to grieve. Bad things happen.
But so do good things.
And if we flip our way of viewing a particular situation, we may even feel like a VIP.