January 12, 2026

There is what we control and what we do not control. Adjusting ourselves to the things we do not control is the most important trick in the entire Book of Tricks. How well we do that tells the tale.

There is how things are and how we think about how things are, the way we see how things are, what we tell ourselves about how things are, what we do about how things are.

The way we interpret and respond to the way things are in our life determines, or at least strongly influences how we respond to the way things are in our life. We are in control of our reactivity to our life, and the way we react/respond to our life IS our life. We control our life in so far as we control the way we react/respond to our life. We determine, or strongly influence, what happens to us by the way we react/respond to what happens to us.

We hold the cards. How we play them is entirely up to us.

We can start with observing the ways we are impacted by the things that happen in our life. How personally do we take what goes on? How do we carry ourselves in response to the truth of what’s what, moment to moment, day to day? How much distance is there between us and what happens to us? Just observing the distance increases the distance, influences the way we react to what happens to us. What do we say about what happens to us? Observing what happens and observing our initial comments regarding what happens removes us ever so slightly from what happens. We can increase the distance by changing what we say about what happens. We are reflecting on our response, and that alters our response, and that puts is in more control of our response, of our life. And that begins to transform our life, just by paying attention to what’s what here, now.