By Ken Carroll

The Law of Relativity teaches that nothing is inherently good or bad until we choose to assign a positive or negative meaning to it. Something that happens just is. If I imagine myself on the ladder of human growth and development, no matter where I’m standing, I can always look up and see countless people doing better than me—and I can also look down and see just as many who are worse off.

This law helps us put our experiences into perspective. It reminds us that our so-called “negative” experiences might not be as terrible as they seem—and it gives us a framework for finding the value in them.

Before starting this course, my family and I had been through a string of challenges that we had mentally labeled as really hard or just plain bad. But after learning about this law—this perspective—we decided to sit down together and list every tough thing we’d faced. We made an exhaustive list of all the struggles and setbacks. Then, we went back through it one by one and asked, “How could this have been worse?”

To our surprise, we realized just how protected we had actually been. Yes, the experiences were difficult, but every single one could have been so much harder. We started to feel overwhelming gratitude—for the blessings we hadn’t noticed in the moment and for the fact that each trial had been manageable, even when it didn’t feel like it at the time. We felt a sincere desire to thank Heavenly Father for sustaining us.

While doing the Mindset Mastery course, my wife, daughter, and I have been living with my parents due to some financial setbacks. One day, I came home from work feeling discouraged that we still didn’t have our own place. The news was on TV, covering the devastating flooding happening in the Midwest. I watched footage of families who had lost everything—homes literally washed away, people with nowhere to go, unsure of what to do next.

In that moment, I felt a powerful shift. I suddenly saw how blessed we were. We had a roof over our heads. We were safe. We had food to eat and people who loved us. Once again, I felt deeply compelled to thank God—not just for what we had, but for what we had been spared.

The Law of Relativity has helped me again and again to step back and reframe my hardest moments. I’ve learned that even when something feels like a huge setback, it could be far worse—and often, hidden inside it is the seed of future success.

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