My Pondering
Victor Frankl learned and responded to this the hard way while imprisoned in Nazi concentration camp during WWII as he recounts in his classic book, “Man’s Search for Meaning”.
And Epictetus penned this quote long before that because it is a principle our Creator instituted originally.
Stephen Covey expounds this principle quite articulately in his best seller, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”.
Of course we can’t control everything, we can control ourselves, which brings us to our first habit.
One of the crucial differences between humans and other animals is our capacity for self-awareness. Animals are largely beholden to external stimuli. When they encounter something in the world, they generally react in a preprogrammed way. In contrast, humans can pause, reflect, and decide how to respond.
This is the critical part, the ability to pause, reflect and decide between stimuli and response is paramount to success. Delayed gratification is a strong kin to this. It’s like a mental muscle.
When you’re proactive, you have the freedom to choose how to engage with the world around you and the opportunity to determine your own destin
Pondering Life : Pursuing God 