Follow These Letters
We don’t do it right. When we win, we’re happy. Excited. Overwhelmed and overjoyed! But, when we lose, we somber. We sulk. We’re angry or depressed. Quite the polar opposite. However, what if we took the same approach to a win and a loss?
What if we approached getting turned down for the promotion or the award the same way we would approach receiving it?
These are the type of questions we need to ask ourselves. Moreover, the emphasis on it.
Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If—” states,
“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those to impostors just the same;
It’s a type of preferred indifference. All you can control is the effort you put in, not the end result. You cannot control the score of the game. You only control what you do within the game. What you do in your job. Within your family. Within yourself. The results are out of your hands. The win, the loss or the draw. All out of your hands. So we all need to approach triumph and disaster the same.
They’re impostors. Because the feeling and emotions we get from a triumph or disaster, aren’t real. They are simply tied to our perception of the win or loss. The good news or the bad news. But, all of it is good. If you win than your effort got you there. If you lose, than you gained experience on what doesn’t work. Allowing you to get back up and try again. Eventually and inevitably leading to your triumph anyway.
Let’s not be glib, there can be some truly bad news. The death or injury of someone you love, for instance. There isn’t much here to use, right? Well, again, treat it all the same. When tragedy strikes, this is a moment to practice gratitude, strength, patience, grace, love, kindness and stillness. Even in the face of disaster, you have a choice in how to respond. How to react. How to face it.
Treat triumph and disaster the same. Treat them both differently.
What are your thoughts on this blog? Comment below…
Thought Provoking Questions : What if you approached good and bad news the same way?
Daily I write and release a daily meditation. A quick read. Sharing wisdom and asking thought-provoking questions. Influenced by the obstacles, success and failures in my life and of others. Using history, books, current events, philosophy, and ancient wisdom. These writings are actionable, thought-provoking, designed to make your life better.
These writings are not to push a way of thinking on the reader or to force you into a certain philosophy or methodology. Rather to give you practical and real ways to handle life. This is an added tool. My writing is simply a discussion, a discourse, with all the material I read, watch, hear and consume.