THERE are some things you can’t control – heavy traffic, ill-mannered people, bullies, a terrible boss, skyrocketing prices of commodities, natural disasters, and delays of different kinds. You can not avoid them completely – but you can control how you react to them.
When faced with similar and other challenging situations, take a deep breath. Remind yourself to keep your cool. Losing your patience will only make things complicated, more stressful. Sometimes you just have to – as Rainer Maria Rilke puts it in “Letters to a Young Poet”, “allow life to happen to you”.
Not in a passive way.
A lot of our troubles spring from the desire to be in control of situations and our future. We can only do that to a certain extent. Do what you can. Prevent the things you don’t want to happen, like acquiring lifestyle diseases and the other things you dread – but relax! Enjoy the simple things and collect memories. “Allow life to happen to you.” Make things happen, too.
Change what you can, including your reaction to things you do not like. Be humble enough to accept what you can not change. That will be good for your mental health.
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