A woman once won a luxury car in the lottery. Naturally, all her friends and family congratulated her on her luck and even asked for a party. But she acted indifferently and did not celebrate this win. As time passed, people went on with their lives and forgot about this.

Two months later, the woman met an accident in her new car. The car was thrashed but she came out with minor injuries. While the family thanked God for her wellbeing, many others had their own opinions. Some viewed the accident as God’s punishment for not celebrating the win with friends, while others taunted her that since she did not work hard for the car, she did not deserve it anyway. The woman, lying in her hospital bed, still acted indifferent, not showing any sign of sadness.

One week later, once she had recovered, the woman took the car for repair. Meanwhile, as she was in the repair garage, there was an earthquake in which her apartment got destroyed. As her close ones saw the news, she started getting their calls and messages. When everyone got to know that she was out for car repair, people had opinions again. Many told her that the car was indeed her lucky charm, others told her that this was the result of her good deeds. All this while, the woman still acted indifferently.

In life, we see situations from our own lens, based on our personal history. But the universe is indifferent to our opinions. Random things happen all the time, devoid of us labeling them good or bad: Storms come, a lion kills a deer, a mother nurtures her baby, a cub dies of cold in the wild, and life goes on.

And this is another key to a happy life: Be indifferent to opinions.

Now often indifference is confused with resisting your feelings. But it is far from the truth. You can still accept your feelings without confusing them to be the truth.

Labeling things as “good” and “bad” is a natural response, helping us filter signal from noise to increase our chances of survival. But the world is transient. What was “bad” yesterday might be “good” today, but a mind clouded by opinions is unable to see the change.

Open up to see the present beyond the opinions of the past. Be here, now.