Life never turns out quite how you expect. And in many ways, that’s a good thing. Living in a state of certainty would be boring. You’d always know what was going to happen next. There would be no surprises – good or bad – until your dying day.
However, that fact alone doesn’t make the process easy. When things go wrong, it can feel like the whole world is falling apart.
Dreadful storms affect people’s lives every day. For instance, you might find out that your life partner is having an affair or somebody you love might die. You could lose your job or get a disease that will be with you for life.
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When these things happen, it causes you to fundamentally reevaluate your approach to life. In some cases, it can make you feel miserable. But if you can plot a way through, you often come out of the other side a more joyful person.
Remember, failure isn’t fatal and success isn’t final. Life is continuously in a state of flux. Things might seem like they couldn’t be worse, but endings often become new beginnings. Pain goes away after a while and gets replaced by something else – often something better.
For instance, let’s say that the worst happens and you find out that your partner has been having affairs behind your back. On the face of it, it seems like a terrible thing. You invested so much trust in that person and wanted to believe that they were committed to you. But then you found out that they weren’t.
When this happens, you can go inward and blame yourself. Or you can take a different approach. You can thank that person for revealing their true nature and then move on. In many cases, once you’ve been through one relationship, you’re much better at figuring out what you want from the next. Often, you make better decisions about who you choose to be with.
What about if you get injured and have to live with a disability for the rest of your life, perhaps because of a car and motorcycle accident? Again, you can still make progress. Life isn’t over.
Getting impassioned legal representation is part of the solution. You want to make sure that you protect yourself and get any dues other parties owe you. But you also want to change your mindset. Clinging to good health and an able body is, in the long-run, a fool’s game. Eventually, we’re all going to pass away. The trick is to find ways to live joyfully in that knowledge.
Even if life knocks you down, don’t quit. Practically every ultra successful person experienced severe setbacks in their lives. But they kept going, no matter what resistance they faced, determined to build the life that they wanted.
Giving up means that you're out of the game. You will never get to where you want to be if you stop trying.
Take Control
The next step is to take control of your inner experience. Most people believe that the world determines how they feel on the inside. But sages, gurus and masters of life know that it is possible to set their inner state how they wish.
If you can master this practice, it doesn’t matter what tragedies befall you. Somebody you love could leave you, but if you are able to maintain your inner peace, it won’t be the mighty blow it otherwise would be.
Learn From Life’s Lessons
Negative events have a wonderful capacity for dispelling naivety. When they occur, you suddenly learn an enormous amount about the world.
These lessons are unpleasant to swallow. But once you accept them, your romantic ideals about life fade away. All of a sudden, you see things for how they really are. And, as surprising as this might sound, it can actually be a profound source of peace.
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Surround Yourself With Positive People
We are a reflection of the people with whom we spend the most time. If you are around negative individuals all the time, you’ll struggle to dig yourself out of whatever hole you’re in right now.
However, if you bring positive people into your life, then it changes the dynamic completely. All of a sudden, you find that you’re able to deal with the issues that you face and move on.
If you do anything risky in life, expect setbacks. Love, business and travel all bring risks. Ultimately, though, living with a little uncertainty is much better than knowing exactly what the future holds.
