YOU CAN'T RUIN MY DAY: Getting to Know You

Wake-Up Call #1

We must learn to accept life and to accept ourselves with a shrug and a smile . . .

because it’s all we’ve got.

-Harvey Mindess, author

Until you accept things the way they are and realize that you can’t change other people except perhaps by setting an example of how you would like them to be, you will be hard pressed to find a lot of happiness in your life.

            If you had a horse, for example, and you wanted to go in one direction and the horse you are riding wants to go in another, sorry folks, but it ain’t gonna work. No amount of pulling or tugging, kicking or screaming, pleading, or prodding will make the horse go where you want it to go if the horse doesn’t want to go there. And, don’t forget, he is much bigger than you. So accepting the place where the horse is headed is easier.

            To be a contented, and have a great day every day, you need to accept other people as they are, not the way you want them to be. I’m not saying not to try to make the world better. But it is useless to keep knocking your head against the wall trying to change things that can’t be changed.

Wake-Up:

Every time you encounter someone who upsets you, stop and ask yourself, “What is it that annoys me about that person? Chances are that quality that you don't like is something you also have or you probably would not have noticed it in someone else. It is probably something you also need to accept in yourself.

Lighten Up:

Nasreddin, a satirical Sufi figure, was walking along the street when he sees a mirror lying on the curb. 

“Oh! what a waste," says Nasrudin, “a good mirror thrown away like that.” 

So he picks it up and looks in it, then he discards it too. 

“No wonder they threw the mirror away", he says, "What a face! Who’d want to look at a face like that!”