from Verse One Hundred FifteenBenefit and harm go through the same gate, calamity and fortune are in the same neighborhood: only saints and sages can distinguish them.~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
Circumstances are circumstances; it's how we react to them that determines our destiny.For me, this highlights why expectations can be dangerous. When we encounter any situation in life, we often have expectations. When the circumstances don't jibe exactly with our expectations, we too often believe that luck or fate is against us and there is no hope for realizing a successful outcome.
What we don't realize is that how we meet and react to those circumstances plays the determining factor in our failure OR success. As the old adage goes, if you find lemons, then make lemonade!
The people who experience success more than failure are those who utilize whatever the circumstances are to their benefit. Not only that, but such people are better able to redefine what success in any given situation entails.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
A great New Yorker cartoon had two businessmen talking. One says to the other, "If at first you don't succeed, redefine success." I had this on my office bulletin board for a while, but then found no one really found it funny but me.
ReplyDeleteIf you can find it and scan it, you should post it on your blog.
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