It Just Is

Daoist philosophy is predicated on what's called "The Way". "The Way" is the basic idea that humans should live in accordance with nature. To not fight what happens to us, but rather respond as harmoniously as possible.

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had a term for this..."Amor Fati", meaning 'A Love of Fate'. He once wrote "Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it…but love it."

Since nearly all of what happen to us in life is out of our control, we mustn't label what happens to us as good or bad, but rather “just is”.

Getting caught in traffic is not good nor bad, it just it.

Having a really difficult organic chemistry professor is not good nor bad, it just is.

Getting too few banana peppers on your sandwich is not good nor bad, it just is.

Just because these are things you don’t want doesn’t mean they are bad.

The quality of our life is shaped by how we perceive reality. If we see an impediment or difficulty as a bad thing, we'll live in perpetual mental distress. But if we see the things that happen to us as part of the process, we begin to see them as tools for self-development.

Living in acceptance beats the hell out of living pissed off.

Final Thoughts

There’s a difference between something not being ideal and something being bad. Just as a hammer can be used to build things, it can also be used to destroy things. Hammers aren’t good, nor are they bad…they just are. The determining factor in whether the hammer is used for construction or destruction is the hand that holds it.