You may recall that I featured Dr. Robert Anthony in this blog post not long ago. Dr. Anthony recently sent an email that really got me thinking, and I thought it might be helpful to you too. See what you think:
“If you want your reality to be different from ‘what is’, then you might as well try to teach your cat to bark. You can try and try and in the end the cat will look up at you and say ‘Meow’. Wanting your reality to be different from what it is in this moment is just as stupid. You can spend the rest of your life trying to teach your cat to bark, but you will never succeed.
“And yet if you pay attention, you’ll notice that you think thoughts like this dozens of times every day. People should be… My neighbors should be… My husband should… My wife should… I should…
“These thoughts are ways of wanting reality to be different from the way it is. Here is my point – all the stress you feel in your life at this moment is caused by arguing with ‘what is’.
“People say to me, ‘But if I simply accept reality then I will become passive and nothing will change.’ I answer them with this question. ‘Which of these statements makes more sense? “I wish I hadn’t lost all that money.” or “What can I do now to create more income?”‘
“Accepting ‘what is’ doesn’t mean you condone or approve of the way things are, it just means you give up all the resistance and inner struggle by wishing it were different. No one wants to lose their money, have their children get sick or be in a car accident.
“However, when these things happen it can it be helpful not to mentally argue with them. We know better than to do that, yet we do it because it is a HABITUAL PATTERN.
“I am a lover of ‘what is’, not because it is the ‘right’ thing to do, but because it hurts when I argue with reality, and when I do, I ALWAYS lose.”
What do you think? How does it make you feel? Does this get your mind’s gears turning? It certainly gave me plenty to think about! Please share your comments below with me and other readers.