Bad Things Happen

Whether dealing with bereavement or a project going off-track or someone cut you up on the way to work.  The solution is the same.  Remember that you get to decide your reaction.

Prepare for them ahead of time. Yet without bringing the suffering forward.

Deal with them in the appropriate time.  Yet without labouring the pain longer than necessary.

​Remember that you too are going to die someday.  And live accordingly.

"​Had you lost a friend (which is the greatest blow of all), you would have had to endeavour rather to rejoice because you had possessed him than to mourn because you had lost him."

"​...Again, it is foolish to lament one's loss, when there is such a slight interval between the lost and the loser. Hence we should be more resigned in spirit, because we follow closely those whom we have lost."

"​...How much of this time is taken up with weeping, how much with worry! How much with prayers for death before death arrives, how much with our health, how much with our fears! How much is occupied by our years of inexperience or of useless endeavour! And half of all this time is wasted in sleeping. Add, besides, our toils, our griefs, our dangers – and you will comprehend that even in the longest life real living is the least portion thereof."

~ Seneca, Letter XCIX

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