Wouldn’t it be great to be in control of everything all the time? Think about it for a minute. You could control the weather, so your backyard barbecue isn’t canceled because Mother Nature is having a bad day.
Your finances will always be in great shape, as would your body and health. You could control your actions, the actions of others, and every single aspect of your life. Your every experience would be positive and perfect.
It’s too bad that’s not a possibility. Oh well, there’s nothing wrong with dreaming.
The real world doesn’t allow a single person to be in control of everything. That could turn ugly for everyone other than that individual if he woke up with a bad attitude one day. It’s a normal and natural aspect of the human condition to go through your life out of control at times.
That doesn’t mean you should embrace a loss of control if you expect to be happy. Unfortunately, some people don’t understand this truth.
Focus on What You Can Control
Imagine that it’s raining. You are playing golf with some friends, and the rain comes out of nowhere. Your local weatherman said there wouldn’t be a drop of rain all day, and now you have a torrential downpour. You and your friends are getting soaking wet as you run for shelter.
In this imaginary scenario, try to exercise some control over the weather. Think deeply and put your thoughts out into the world. With willpower, make it stop raining! Bring the sun back out! Try to make it happen. If you attempted this, you would be unsuccessful.
That’s because you can’t control what you can’t control.
Trying to influence people, places, and things you have little to no control over is frustrating. It’s also pointless. You have no chance of success. You get nothing but negative emotions as a reward for trying to change something you can’t influence in any way.
When you think about it, there is very little you can control. Doesn’t it make more sense to concentrate on the few things you can influence rather than everything out of your control?
This is what truly happy people do.
They don’t go out of their way to try to pound a square peg into a round hole. That’s asking for unhappiness, frustration, and other negative emotions to come calling. Instead, look for what you can control, even in a negative situation. If you want to, you can always find the silver lining in the cloud, the controllable aspect of a challenging experience. That mindset will lead to a lot more happiness in your life and less stress and anxiety.