I was absolutely livid.

After chasing my supplier for two days, I finally received a response.

“I am looking after Lucy’s emails as the company has gone into liquidation. I will forward your details to the insolvency practitioner.”

Allow me to give you some background here. It is a top priority for me to astonish my clients. It’s a thought I constantly carry with me.

For months I’d searched for the ‘perfect gift’ for my clients. When I eventually found it, I knew it straight away.

I got excited. I wanted to make it work and got carried away. I was talked into procuring a bulk order and spent more money than I had initially intended.

And then recently, when attempting to call off an order, I received the news that the company no longer existed.

If you’re in business long enough, things like this happen. The journey to success is not linear.

But back to my anger.

I was angry because had I not been attempting to place an order, I might not have been notified of the liquidation at all.

I was angry because the investment I had made would most likely be completely lost. Creditors are rarely compensated in the event of a liquidation.

I was angry because I’d spent so much time researching and negotiating an inspirational gift for my clients. It felt like time wasted.

I was most angry that I had invested in a local project with someone I considered a friend. I’d been talked into placing a bulk order that was against my best instincts. I was angry with myself for not doing things differently.

In my experience, sometimes it’s ok to feel anger. It’s a helpful part of the feeling process.

But we need to process our anger, and then let go. Lingering in anger is not helpful.

There’s a relatively sobering truth: No matter how much we plan, or attempt to mitigate against risk, or do what we think is the right thing: there will be times when things don’t go as we had planned.

No matter how good you are at what you do, no matter how smoothly your life might be flowing at any given time, something will invariably happen to knock you off-course.

You will feel incensed, angry, annoyed, cheated, let-down, lied to, or any number of negative emotions.

And that feeling is easy to justify. After all, you are the victim here. You kept your agreement, and someone broke theirs.

But there’s a trap to this way of thinking, or this way of being….

The amount of time you spend in a place of negative emotion = the amount of time that you suffer.

One of my favourite all time books is 10 Secrets to Success and Inner Peace by Wayne Dyer. One of the secrets he discusses is ‘There are no Justified Resentments.’

It’s advice that dates back at least 2,000 years (most likely mush longer) to the sutras written by sage Patanjali. Forgiveness is not in vogue today. We prefer to feel justified with our resentments, and hold tighly onto our anger.

And there are no shortage of reasons to feel angry or offended. In the past week alone…

I’ve had to deal with a dent in the back of my car

My boiler broke down and required an expensive repair

My flight home was over an hour late

My cleaner cancelled at the last minute

My next physiotherapy appointment isn’t available for almost two months

And my girlfriend suffered a severe skin burn from a hot furnace.

It took me less than two minutes to put this list together. Given more time, I could easily compile a much longer list. And so could you.

But what would be the value in that? Most of these inconveniences are either resolved already, in the process of being resolved, or will be resolved given a little more time and space.

Each individual challenge carries a lesson I need to learn. Until I absorb whatever that is, life will find more creative ways of presenting that challenge to me. And within each lesson there is often a massive opportunity, if you’re willing to see it.

Carl Jung famously said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

What has happened to you in the past week that led you to feel angry, annoyed, or offended? What is the lesson you need to apply? What is the hidden opportunity?

When you start thinking happy thoughts about the people and circumstances around you, you will be happy much of the time.

If it’s any consolation, this is work in progress for me too. It takes practice.