There is a Japanese proverb that says we meet the people we are destined to meet.
Not just by chance, not by circumstance or luck, but because of something our soul agreed to uphold.
Someone will surely come into your life to heal you... Others, however, will come and pass through your life to unsettle you, to break you from the inside or even from the outside.
But those who remain during and after those moments are the ones who are truly etched in your heart.
We don’t just know them—we interact with them. And sometimes we’re absolutely certain that person will be someone who’ll share their life with us… but after a few years, it turns out they were someone who had to leave. Someone who will leave us—perhaps even leaving us with a sense of longing. But they’ll have to go.
Someone who will leave, and whom we can never prevent from leaving…
Other people, however, whom we initially thought wouldn’t be in our lives for very long, may actually remain with us until the end of our days in this reality.
We thought they wouldn’t play such an important role, and they may not even be central figures in our lives, but their existence and influence have had—and continue to have—a much greater impact and presence than we realize. And they may even play a key role in connecting us to a third person, bringing the three of us together.
This Japanese proverb reminds me a little of what has happened in my life.
Although I’ve only lived a little less than half a century, I’ve seen quite a few things happen in my life.
A dear friend of mine—whom I met when I was perhaps a little over 18 years old, and for whom I felt a special affection, and with whom I even imagined myself living and starting a family, who knows—ended up becoming just a friend. It never went beyond that. Much to my regret at the time, since I considered her a very special girl. She was kind, spoke sweetly, and acted with kindness. But since I didn’t have that same effect on her, I understood—and accepted, of course—that perhaps it wasn’t meant to be for us to be together for the rest of our lives. But I felt the story wouldn’t end there.
And the truth is, that’s exactly how it turned out.
Just as I knew him very well, I also had a friend who, in a way, seemed to “fit” perfectly with his personality. He was also easygoing, kind, and very good-looking—a real heartthrob. But life hadn’t been particularly kind to him when it came to the girlfriend he had at the time.
Looking at these two people, I finally saw the “bigger picture.” The big picture!
They should meet each other.
All I did was arrange for the two of them—if the other was willing—to meet for coffee at a small beach bar near my house.
That meeting took place, but first I let both of them know that a friend—a guy or a girl—would also be joining us for coffee, since they were free, and I thought they’d be very interested in meeting him or her.
And the rest is history.
They met that day, and they’ve never been apart since. They were the ones who met and made their love known. They were the ones who had the courage to give their souls to each other. I simply brought the two of them together, at a certain moment, in the same place.
That’s all I did. And that was all that needed to be done.
Today they’re happy; they have three daughters and a beautiful family.
Destiny isn’t mapped out by anyone or by some divine being. We are the ones who shape it, and we are the ones who can influence it. And sometimes we don’t even need to make a great effort.
All we need to do is pay attention to the “pieces” of the puzzle that appear around us.
Free image by Henning Westerkamp from Pixabay
Original text written by 
