The stoic philosopher, Epictetus said, “Men are disturbed not by things but by the views which they take of these things.” Or said another way, you can’t always control what happens, but you can always control your response to what happens. Every day, things happen that most people consider “bad.” A traffic jam, a coworker getting on your nerves, a setback on a project, a poor night’s sleep, a delayed flight, etc. And these “bad” things make us feel stressed, frustrated, and unhappy. But we don’t become stressed, frustrated, or unhappy because of these things. We become this way because of how we view these things. Our untrained minds are used to viewing life’s many inconveniences, challenges, and setbacks as negative. But there is no law of physics or the universe decreeing that a traffic jam, delayed flight, or failure must be bad. We just choose to believe these things are bad, and so our minds and bodies respond negatively. The solution is to flip the script. Flipping the script me...
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