Our
weak and negative states leave us open to 'take
on' outside prevailing conditions. . .We are
shaken
with the wind and float with the current because
we
present the negative. -- Henry Wood
A bad day
usually begins badly. All it takes sometimes is one
thing to go wrong and we
run to our battle stations for the rest of the day.
Then it
seems all that ever comes our way are more bad
things.
By the
end of the day, we're glad it's over.
But our day
didn't have to go badly if only we had detached
right from the start.
Instead
of believing we were victims of an unset alarm
clock, a ripped shirt, unpressed pants, an angry
partner, demanding children, or burnt toast, we
could have accepted the upsets and let go of them.
Life is
so much better when we aren't drowning in the upsets
around us.
We don't have
to absorb the antics of others or get caught up in
the material and mechanical inconveniences.
A sure
sign of maturity is being able to accept an upset
for a few minutes and then let it go.
Life
is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with
sniffles predominating.
-- O.
Henry
The balance in life places
us between happiness and sadness. Life can't always be
ecstatically happy and free from woe, just as it
isn't always miserably unhappy.
Somewhere
in the middle is a gray area where neither smiles
nor sobs predominate.
Living
life on its terms means accepting the events life
brings without overreacting with ecstasy or
depression.
Acceptance
sometimes means we may not feel happy and we may not
feel sad -- we may just feel.
This is the
middle ground of feeling that isn't high or low --
it seems indefinable. We don't always have to feel
great.
Sometimes we
can just feel okay. Accepting that
middle-of-the-road feeling and not trying to analyze
it or define it gives us the freedom to have gray
areas in our lives.
And sometimes
it is the gray area that keeps us from bouncing off
walls or riding an emotional roller coaster.
Accepting
the gray area can give us sanity.
Happiness
grows in our own firesides and is not
to be picked in strangers' gardens.
--
Douglas Jerrold
The old saying The grass is
always greener on the other side of the fence is an appropriate
sentiment for envious people.
When we look at another
couple or another family, we may only see the good
points.
We may look for the same
good points in our relationships and families and
not find them.
We then conclude our
happiness, security, and contentment can only occur
if we have what others have.
In an old comedy routine, a
restaurant customer points to another diner and says
to the waiter, I'll have what she's having.
The waiter immediately
takes the half-eaten food from the other diner and
gives it to him.
However, we can't take the
good things that others have, nor can we share them.
We can only learn from
them, making things better in our relationships and
families. Only we can make things good.