In every situation, that which blocks our path actually presents a
new path with a new part of us. If
someone you love hurts you, there is a change to practice forgiveness. If your business fails, now you can practice
acceptance. If there is nothing else you
can do for yourself, at least you can try to help others.
Think progress, not perfection.
People turn shit into sugar all the time.
Behind the Serenity Prayer is a 2000 year old Stoic phrase: “ta
eph’hemin, ta ouk eph’hemin.” What is up to us, what is not up to us. And what is up to us? Our emotions, our
judgments, our creativity, our attitude, our perspective, our desires, our
decisions, our determination. This is
our playing field.
Go ahead, feel it. Just don’t
lie to yourself by conflating emoting about a problem and dealing with it. Because they are as different as sleeping and
waking.
Does getting upset provide you with more options?
Just because your mind tells you that something is awful or evil or
unplanned or otherwise negative doesn’t mean you have to agree. Just because
other people say that something is hopeless or crazy or broken to pieces
doesn’t mean it is. We decide what story
to tell ourselves. Or whether we will
tell one at all.
Turn it around. Find some benefit. Use it as fuel.
Fate doesn’t have to be fatalistic.
It can be destiny and freedom just as easily.
If someone we knew took traffic signals personally, we would judge
them insane. Yet this is exactly what
life is doing to us. It tells us to come
to a stop here. Or that some intersection is blocked or that a particular road
has been rerouted through an inconvenient detour. We can’t argue or yell this problem
away. We simply accept it. That is not to say we allow it to prevent us
from reaching our ultimate destination.
But it does change the way we travel to get there and the duration of
the trip.
The path of least resistance is a terrible teacher.
No one is born a gladiator.
No one is born with an Inner Citadel.
If we’re going to succeed in achieving our goals despite the obstacles
that may come, this strength in will must be built.