The
pain you feel from the external event is caused by your reaction to it.
You can
control your reactions according to your environment. When you control your reactions, you control
your feelings, and this permits you not only to make decisions but also to make
rational decisions.
One of
the biggest lessons you may learn from a crisis is your own vulnerability.
Your
ability to deal with a crisis situation though logic and intelligence is
severely reduced when you are emotionally upset.
The
biggest problem many of us face in dealing with personal crises is finding
peace, yet peace is always available.
Your reaction to the crises you face is the only barrier to finding the
peace you need to deal with the crises.
If you control your emotional reaction, you will find the peace you
need.
The right
thing to do is almost always the hardest thing to do.
When we
build our happiness on pride alone, we are building a house of cards. And when the house collapses, we face a
serious crisis: our happiness vanishes along with our means of easily regaining
it.
The
largest, most important dividend to be enjoyed from achieving
self-actualization is peace.
Promising
yourself you’ll deal with things “tomorrow” is not just procrastination. It is self-destructive.
“Tomorrow” is not
the day after today; it is a place where you put things that you don’t want to
do. “Tomorrow” comforts you and fools
you. Ultimately, it can destroy you.
One of
the most effective ways to avoid or deal with personal crises is to elevate the
joy you get out of living. Crises seem
to occur most often to people who view life as a chore to be completed, not as
an adventure to be experienced.
The secret is this:
The whole of your life’s experience is but an outer expression of your inner
thoughts.
A crisis
is not necessarily an ending, a pause, or a total stop. It is a turning point. Something is changing, or about to
change. Your control over how things are
changing may be limited, but your reaction to the change is entirely in your
hands.
