We are problem solving people, and perhaps this results from what writer Joe Quirk calls the bitch gene in his book, "It's Not You, It's Biology." We go out, it's cold and dark, and we (or some ancestor, thank you) says hey, let's put some clothes on and make a fire. Thanks to our tendency to notice what's lacking in reality, we figure out ways to make it more tolerable.
But some things we can't change. And we spend lots of energy moaning about them.
Author Thom Rutledge says the mathematical formula for pain is the difference between expectation and performance (substitute outcome/reality). I've also heard it said that pain is inevitable, but suffering results when we add resistance to reality.
Today's assignment: try to notice when you are resisting an unpleasant reality. Make an easy one-- it's rainy and you wish it were sunny. You didn't make the light when it was green. Something little. Practice on these smaller annoyances and simply accept the facts as they present themselves. Here's the dorky formula-- dorky, but powerful. "I wish (x) and I accept (y)." "I wish it was sunny and I accept that it's raining." It's powerful because the energy we use to resist reality can be either put to rest or used to make modifications that make it easier to deal with.
Today's quote: "It is what it is."
As in whatever, dude.
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