Events Don’t Upset You. Beliefs Do.

You get dumped by someone you’re totally in love with. Feel sad? God, yes. The world is going to end.

Okay, same scenario, but afterwards you find out that person was actually a psychopath who killed their last three partners. Feel sad you got dumped? No, you’re thrilled.

So clearly “getting dumped” isn’t the important factor here. What changed? Nothing but your beliefs.

If you lose your job and believe it was a lousy position and believe it won’t be hard for you to get a better job, you’re unfazed.

If you believe it was the greatest job ever and believe you’ll never get another one that good — you’re devastated. Emotions aren’t random. They follow from beliefs. Here’s Ryan:

The Stoics are saying there are no good or bad events, there’s only perception. Shakespeare encapsulated it well when he said, “Nothing either good nor bad but thinking makes it so.” Shakespeare and the Stoics are saying that the world around us is indifferent, it is objective. The Stoics are saying, “This happened to me,” is not the same as, “This happened to me and that’s bad.” They’re saying if you stop at the first part, you will be much more resilient and much more able to make some good out of anything that happens.

Now, our beliefs in horses have a radical impact on our every day life. Do you believe horses have the ability to travel through time and enlighten whomsoever they choose? If you do, you probably have horse trinkets all over your house and personal body, and you're elated when you pass a pasture on a highway, or see an image in a magazine. If you believe they're intentions are vile and insidious then, well, you probably subscribe to my blog and get steamed when you see one prancing around like its invincible. Therefore I say this is one of those rare exceptions to the rule. Jesus turned over the temple tables and we should not let horses take over!