Many seasons ago, a farmer was looking out his door. He noticed the gate to his corral was open, and his only horse was gone. His neighbor also saw this and ran over, yelling, “Oh my god! You are going to die of starvation if you don’t have your horse to plow your fields. The farmer paused and then calmly raised his hands in acceptance and said, “We’ll see.”

The next day, the farmer saw a dust cloud in the distance, and it seemed to be moving toward him. Soon, the farmer saw his horse and two young stallions running with her. They ran into the corral, and he went and shut the gate. His neighbor ran over, elating, “Wow! You are rich! Three horses! You’ll be the wealthiest man in the province. The farmer again paused, and then he raised his hands in surrender and said, “We’ll see.”

The next day the farmer’s son tried to ride one of the new stallions. He was thrown off and broke both his legs. The neighbor ran over, yelling, “Oh my god! You’ll have to work until your dead! Your son can never take care of you now!” The farmer paused. Then acceptingly, the farmer said, “We’ll see.”

The next day a general rode up and told the farmer the army was losing a war. They needed his son, and he would probably die in the fighting. The farmer told him his son had broken both of his legs. So, the general left to find other conscripts. The neighbor ran over, saying. “Wow! Your son would die in that war! Congratulations! You are so lucky!” The farmer paused and then raised his hands and said, “We’ll see.”

We all have emotional ups and downs in our lives. One day (or minute), we feel fantastic, and the next, we feel angry or down. Life is full of emotional roller coaster rides. One of the secrets to living a more fulfilling life is to learn to absorb the good and the bad with equanimity, a calm attitude, in other words. This personal grace or composure allows us to navigate the positive and negative events with the least suffering.

How do we learn to accept and let go, though? I recommend starting small with seemingly insignificant things in your daily life. When you become aware that you are about to start or are in an emotional reaction, pause before releasing that emotional energy. Take a deep breath or two. The delay gives your logical mind time to catch up with the events. Additionally, that pause will sap some of your emotional energy and pressure you’re experiencing.

With that break, ask yourself, “what do I want out of this situation? An emotional reaction or accomplishing a goal.” The reactionary mind can only see the release of the emotional energy, no matter what the consequences. In contrast, that pause, combined with knowing what you truly want, will give you time to navigate toward a more meaningful solution.

You will become more accepting of things you have no control over, and you’ll feel less negative by letting go of trying to control the uncontrollable. There is power in that pause. Power to create a more comfortable and more meaningful life for yourself and probably others.

I’m Blair. Thank you for joining me. Please, start adding more control to your life with acceptance and letting go.

I look forward to seeing you in the next videos, so together, we can continue to grow.

May you have a peaceful day.

Posted November 23, 2020