Life is full of unexpected changes. How many times has there been a dramatic change in the stability of your life that completely throws you off track? Many, of course. You were blissfully ignorant of the forthcoming storm and then viciously slapped with a debacle. And unfortunately, life will always be full of unexpected turns, many of them that seem utterly catastrophic.
One time you may be struggling with health, the next with money and still the next with relationships. That is both the curse and blessing of life. However, you don’t have to suffer because everything is not perfect in your life.
You have probably noticed that different people have different opinions of what problems are and how much attention should be given to any one thing. We are oftentimes too quick to deem any alteration from our intended plan to be a problem. But sometimes this very problem can lead to great success. A shift from the plan doesn't mean that the plan is ruined. What one should consider is that an alteration from the plan as intended is just that: an alteration. Thus, one just has to adjust accordingly to attain the intended results.
We must remember that our plans are irrelevant amongst the myriad events occurring in the world. Your plan may have failed to proceed as intended because it conflicted with the plan of another individual, or many individuals. When you analyze your desires from a worm’s perspective, it becomes easier to accept that things may not go as intended. But that does not mean that things cannot work out to benefit us still, NPR does it mean that the plan has failed. It was simply adjusted.
The fastest and simplest way to deal with life’s problems is to realize that they are all contrived by our minds. We choose to see a given scenario as a problem, and accordingly, we can also choose to view that scenario as an alternative. One of the easiest ways to acclimate yourself to the tumultuous changes of life and come to terms with our insignificance amidst the monstrosity that is the universe is to accept that we cannot control our destinies.
We can try our hardest to induce certain changes to work in our favor, but ultimately, we are simply one actor amidst the billions of others all seeking to achieve their own goals.
Each situation truly comes down to your own perception of it, and unfortunately, we tend to create problems. Envision this scenario: You’re walking down the street with your girlfriend and you catch a guy staring at her. What is your reaction? The secure alpha male will take this as a compliment--recognizing that his girlfriend is very alluring—and will not react angrily.
Now the insecure, beta male will certainly see this as a problem. This guy just tried to talk to his girlfriend. What a debacle! As we have illustrated here, a situation really comes down to how you choose to perceive it. Do not choose to be the beta male and create a problem that does not need to exist. Be the alpha, elite male and make a positive situation out of any unforeseen alteration.
When you create problems, you add to the compulsive worrying cultivated in us by the myriad of stresses in today's society. Face it: life will always be chock full of changes you did not expect and do not want. The worst thing you can do is waste your time by analyzing or trying to figure out problems you have contrived in your mind.
Hell, some of us even tend to worry about problems that have yet to occur. How silly is that? Of course, at the time it seems like the most dire, urgent situation, but upon closer inspection it is almost always a non-issue.
Take a lesson from your stoner friends and just chill, brah. The best way to cease to worry about irrelevant issues is to remain open to changes. This is not to say that you should not have a plan, but if you remain open to other alternatives to your plan you are less likely to stress and you might even discover a superior plan.
Of course, this is easier said than done. We are a society full of procrastinators and compulsive worries, and the combination of these two traits leads to excessive anxiety. But at the end of the day, all of these issues will seem irrelevant further down the line. And that’s the best mindset to cling to. Trust us, what is supposed to happen, will.
Elite.
