You Can't Control Everything

Complete control

If you had complete control over life, there would never be any unpleasant surprises. But there would never be any pleasant surprises either.

If you had complete control over life, things would always go your way. But you would never have the need to innovate, to adjust to unexpected, changing conditions, and to learn new ways of doing things.

If you had complete control over life, you would be responsible for deciding the nature of every moment, and the actions of every person. But just imagine how tedious and unfulfilling that would quickly become.

If you had complete control over life, your every desire would be granted the moment you thought of it. But it would thus be impossible for you to have anything to look forward to.

Thankfully, though there are many important things you can control, much of life is beyond your control. And it is that fact that is largely responsible for the richness and fulfillment you’re able to experience.

Life does not always go your way. And in that truth is a world of magnificent possibilities.

Courage is

Courage is what happens when your desire to make positive progress is greater than your fear of a negative setback. Courage is what happens when you look at those fears, listen to them, learn from them, use them to prepare, and then move boldly forward.

Courage is how problems are turned into opportunities. Courage is why some people are able to move the situation forward though there seems to be no hope.

Courage is when you do what you know is right, even if it is the more difficult and unpopular choice. Courage is something that builds new strength each time it is exercised.

Courage is not something that you must obtain or struggle to develop. Courage is a choice that can be yours the moment you decide to use it.

When the goal is worthy and filled with meaning, the courage to reach it will be there. When your sense of purpose is strong and clear, your courage will be too.

Courage is indeed a powerful way to live. And you can choose it every time.

Forever endure

As time goes by, some things in life become faded, feeble and useless. Yet the things that truly matter just keep getting stronger and more meaningful.

When you invest all your hope and love in the superficial things that will soon fade away, then you make time your enemy. You become engaged in a battle that you cannot win.

Yet when you cherish life’s true, enduring values, your opportunities for joy grow more abundant with each passing moment. As life goes forward, it cannot help but get better.

When you find your fulfillment in truth, in virtue, and in integrity, you set yourself up to gain real value and benefit from every experience. Though life may not always go as you planned or desired, you will always have something real and meaningful to show for it.

For every situation is a situation in which your integrity can grow stronger. Every experience is an experience in which a new and valuable truth is revealed.

Life always has so very much to offer. Treasure those things that forever endure, and your store of treasure will be rich indeed.

In perspective

When something goes wrong, even when several things go wrong at once, there are still many more things that continue to go right for you. One of the best ways to deal with any trouble in your life is to put it into perspective.

It’s easy to put all of your focus on the problems because they often scream for attention. Yet no matter how intensely the problems assert themselves, you always have the power to put them in perspective.

Use the magnificent power of your mind to visualize all the many treasures and blessings in your life. When compared to all the good things, the problems will not be so overwhelming.

And when your mind is no longer overwhelmed with the problems of the moment, you begin to gain real power over those problems. By putting them into perspective, you put your problems at a distinct disadvantage.

It’s common to respond to a sudden difficulty with shock, anger, frustration, dismay and a whole host of other negative emotions. Yet imagine what would happen if you were to respond with gratitude, not gratitude for the problem itself but rather for all the good things still present in your life.

With gratitude, your energy suddenly shifts in a very positive direction. With gratitude, what once seemed overwhelming becomes something you can confidently handle.

Decide to put your problems in perspective, and you’ll find everything you need to get beyond them.

See where you’re going

When you can clearly see where you’re going, you greatly improve your chances of getting there. The more clearly you can visualize your goals, the more likely you are to reach them.

Pursuing a vaguely defined objective is like traveling through a thick fog. It’s slow and difficult to make any progress, and even when you arrive you may not know you’re there.

Yet when your goals are clear, specific, and filled with rich detail, all kinds of great opportunities for moving toward them will continue to come into view. Your progress will be swift and sure, and you’ll enjoy increasingly abundant rewards as you draw closer to them.

If you’re putting forth the effort to get somewhere, take the time to determine exactly where it is, what it will look like, and how it will be. Get clear on your goals, and you’ll find plenty of ways to achieve them.

Keep your goals clearly in sight by reminding yourself of them on a continuing basis. Experience them often in your own mind, and you’ll soon be experiencing them in the reality of the outer world.

Rise above the fog of fuzzy wishes, and make your intentions clear and specific. That will point you solidly toward wherever you want to go.

Imagine it

Your imagination cannot instantly change things in the physical world around you, yet it can do something even more powerful. It can change you, your attitude, your energy level, your focus and the way you feel.

If you imagine that you’re feeling tired, weary, heavy and drained, you’ll soon start to feel exactly that way. If you imagine that you’re feeling enthusiastic, energetic, joyful and confident, you’ll quickly start to truly feel all those positive things.

It would be a mistake to live your whole life only in your imagination. It would also be a mistake to go through each day without connecting to your imagination at all.

There is no limit to what you can imagine. When you nurture your imagination, it can help you discover very real and workable ways to move forward in a world filled with challenges and constraints.

Once you imagine something, you make it possible for you. And your imagination then goes to work, helping you find ways to make it real.

When it seems that circumstances and events have you locked in place, set your imagination free to roam where it will. Imagine it, and you’ll start a positive momentum that can take you far.

Make yourself lucky

Do you wish you had better luck? Then stop wishing and start making it so.

Good luck does not just randomly appear. Good luck comes to those who attract it.

Live this day as if it is the most precious and important day in your life, and you’ll make yourself lucky. Seek ways to provide real, lasting value to others, and you’ll make yourself lucky.

Be anxious to learn, to explore, to hone your skills and you’ll make yourself lucky. Live with patience, discipline, integrity and a commitment to truth, and you’ll make yourself lucky.

Focus on the positive possibilities, and you’ll make yourself lucky. Take the actions that will manifest the best of those possibilities into reality, and you’ll make yourself lucky.

There’s no limit to the amount of good luck you can enjoy when you take the positive, productive actions that will bring it your way. Make yourself lucky, and experience for yourself how great it can be.

— Ralph Marston