3 Things an Old Farmer can teach us about Happiness

There was an old farmer who had worked on a farm for many years.

One day, his horse ran away. The farmer’s neighbors said, “How awful!”

The farmer replied: “Maybe.”

The next morning, the horse returned. Alongside it came 3 wild horses. The neighbors said, “How wonderful!”

The farmer replied: “Maybe.”

The next day, the farmers son tried to ride one of the wild horses and was thrown off, breaking his leg. The neighbors said, “How awful!”

The farmer replied: “Maybe.”

The following day, the military representatives came by the farmers village to draft young men into the army. Since the son’s leg was broken, he was passed over. The neighbors said, “How lucky!”

The farmer replied: “Maybe.”

Takeaways from this story:

1 — Events themselves are not inherently good or bad

They just are.

You don’t know the downstream effects of whatever happens. All you can control is your reaction.

Your emotional reaction to events in your life is whatever you make it.

2 — Uncouple the event from your reaction

Give space between you and what happened.

Uncoupling yourself from the story the “neighbors” are telling you will help you remain ready for whatever is next.

3 — Remaining detached from things you can’t control increases happiness

Does it help if you stress about something that already happened?

No. More than anything, it hurts you — leaves you unhappy. What you can do is notice your emotional reaction and acknowledge it. This leaves space for you to be separate from the reaction.

This leads to peace.

Read this post and more on my Typeshare Social Blog