“Professor William James, the father of applied psychology, has been dead since 1910. But if he were alive today, and could hear this formula for facing the worst, he would heartily approve of it. How do I know that? Because he told his own students: “Be willing to have it so... Be willing to have it so,” he said, because “...acceptance of what has happened is the first step in overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.” ~ Dale Carnegie from How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
Have you read Loving What Is by Byron Katie? Brilliant book. (You’ll dig the Notes.)
Basic idea? She says: “I realized that it’s insane to oppose it. When I argue with reality, I lose—but only 100% of the time.” Hehe. I love that. And: “If you want reality to be different than what it is, you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.” :)
You want to stop worrying and start living? QUIT ARGUING WITH REALITY. Or, in the words of William James, “Be willing to have it so...”
Arguing with reality is one of the absolute BEST ways to RUIN your life. As Deepak says in his great book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: “This means that your acceptance of this moment is total and complete. You accept things as they are, not as you wish they were in this moment. This is important to understand. You can wish for things in the future to be different, but in this moment you have to accept things as they are.”
Of course, in challenging times, we want a better future (whether that’s 5 seconds from now or 5 days or weeks or years), but we MUST accept what is. From that place, the tension melts, the worry evaporates and we connect to Source and have all the strength we need to embrace the moment and take the next constructive step toward creating our ideal life.
And the best part? We can enjoy THIS MOMENT. No matter how challenging it is. As Marcus Aurelius says in his classic Meditations: “So here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, ‘This is a misfortune,’ but ‘To bear this worthily is a good fortune.’”
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