BEING PROACTIVE

I will be PROACTIVE and grateful, so that I may remain aware of and profit from, all aspects of reality, especially those golden opportunities that could be disguised as challenges or problems.

Stephen Covey, asks the question, "Are we the product of nature or nurture?" and answers, "it's your choice".

There is no question that nature, (genetics, sleep, nutrition etc.) nurture, (conditioning, our environment etc.) as well as randomness or luck, actually, (read Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" or Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "The Black Swan")* play a huge role in many of the outcomes in our lives. That is of course, those outcomes over which we have no control, BUT if your outcome, as stated in previous entries is to live a happy life, then you actually have FULL control over that particular outcome.

Your CHOICE then becomes whether you will be a victim of things outside your control, or not, and again, that choice IS entirely up to you.

As Howard Roark states in The Fountainhead, no matter what happens, "it will hurt only down to a certain point."

Pain may be inevitable, but suffering is optional, and Kahlil Gibran said, "Pain is the the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding." I'm not saying that pain is a good thing or extolling any kind of "virtuous sufferring" because I believe our natural state is a joyful existence, but there is no doubt in my mind that adversity can be a great teacher.

There are many aspects of reality outside our control, but many are within our "influence" and choosing how we respond to circumstances, has been shown to increase the degree of that influence, which is the best we can do in terms of those particulary aspects.

However, in terms of that aspect of reality that involves our happiness, there actually can be overnight success or even instant success; if we are consistent in our choices to be rational which will lead to the realization that it really doesn't make sense to choose anything but happiness.

While I am not personally a religious person, I must acknowledge that much of this is encapsulated in the prayer: "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Thanks again for reading.

* I know some will struggle with the word "luck". I know I did. Read those books.