“There are people who live their whole lives on the default settings, never realizing you can customise.” — Robert Brault
“When you are facing a stressful situation, use the concept of an inner smile to step back from the problem and bathe it in Divine love.” — Candy Paull
“The truth is, everything will be okay as soon as you are okay with everything. And that’s the only time everything will be okay.” — Michael Singer
“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.” — Brian Tracy
“Don’t judge someone just because they sin differently than you.”
“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”
“I liked the fact that rather than classifying mental states, emotions, or desires on the basis of some externally imposed moral judgment such as ‘Greed is a sin’ or ‘Hatred is evil,’ he [His Holiness The Dalai Lama] categorizes emotions as positive or negative simply on the basis of whether they lead to our ultimate happiness.” [page 41] ― His Holiness The Dalai Lama XIV, The Art of Happiness
“Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” — His Holiness The Dalai Lama XIV
Hope
Hope is like a drug; one takes it and forgets one’s sorrows. Like any other drug, when the intoxication wears, one feels miserable. Hope is more dangerous and addictive than any other drug, because it is legal, encouraged, free and readily available, and when the illusion is shattered, one sinks into a greater depression.
We hope everything will be better tomorrow, and it keeps us going today. How is that unlike taking a drug to take the edge off today?
When one accepts one’s circumstances, one becomes content and happy with one’s today, with the additional benefit of living one’s today to the fullest rather than living for the next day that may never come.
Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is Life itself, it is an insane way to live.
— Eckhart Tolle
It is not about resigning oneself to the belief that everything has a purpose, that everything happens for the best or that whatever happens is a blessing in disguise. It is about not enquiring as to why, and going with, “That is how it is”, regardless of reason, and that has an additional benefit of conserving one’s energy by not having to think about it in an attempt to justify one’s circumstances to oneself.
Acceptance is the permanent and universal cure to our temporary and changing circumstances.
Security
We constantly seek security, whether it be money in the bank, owning as opposed to renting or job security. There is safety and comfort in permanence, or at least what we perceive as permanent. There are four factors to consider in our quest for the security of what we consider permanence:
- It indicates that we have no faith in the Divine or Universal Energy in providing for us as it has all along since we were conceived until we decided to take matters into our own hands.
- I feel the pursuit of permanence has an enslaving effect, and temporariness is liberating.
- Life itself is temporary, so it seems illogical to seek permanence in a temporary world.
- In the equation of life, there are many variables, and the only constant is change.
Acceptance
Is destiny pre-written or is the course of our lives in our own hands by virtue of our power of choice?
I believe destiny is the default setting, and choice is our ability to customize.
Life is like a game of cards; the hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.
— Jawaharlal Nehru
It does not matter what one believes though. That would be akin to being concerned about the lock and neglecting the key. The key being acceptance of the situation, regardless of it being pre-destined or brought about by the exercise of our own choices.
What we believe, is of no consequence, if we do not use such belief to achieve the effect it is designed to deliver – that of acceptance of our situation.
Belief is a tool for achieving effects; it is not an end in itself.
— Peter Carroll
Anything and everything you hear from supportive family and friends, read in books or online, or understand through analytical thinking is moot, as those are no more than means to justify to your mind why things are the way they are. They are not solutions.
The bottom line, after you have changed what you can’t accept, is to ultimately make peace with your situation by accepting the culminating product of your choices.
Change what you can’t accept and accept what you can’t change.