Not Everything Happens for a Reason

Some years ago while working at a methadone clinic in New Bedford, Massachusetts, I started hearing the saying "Everything happens for a reason", and that "positive thoughts bring positive things, and negative thoughts bring negative things." When one of my clients came in saying that her taxi driver was promoting this belief, my client (who had an abusive mother) asked her,"So if a baby is sexually abused, they must've somehow sent the wrong message to the Universe?" The taxi driver(according to her understanding of the theory) said, "Yes, that the baby must've done something in a previous life to deserve the abuse."

Do I believe that positive thinking can help positive things happen? Absolutely. But there are times we need to see that bad things happen, and not always for a reason.

Sometimes we get things wrong.