“If you don't like it, change it
If you can't change it, change the way you think about it”
A great quote like those we see we see on Facebook all the time. If it was this easy, then surely we’d all be simply doing it - we’d have a challenge and we’d say something like “oh that sucks. So I won’t think about it sucking, I’ll think of it as a learning experience”
It‘s not like that for most of us! We sometimes even know the way we are thinking about something isn’t particularly helpful, but we don’t seem to be able to change it!
The American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) wrote about the challenge of “accepting” - it’s a universal human conundrum. It’s difficult and sometimes we can’t do it alone.
“...serenity to accept the things I can’t change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”
This is used as part of the 12 step program and can speak to all of us in some way.