"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... and it's All Small Stuff"

Yes I stole the title - it's from Richard Carlson's popular series. But it does make the point. And the point is - at least as far as this mini-course is concerned - that we take things far too seriously. Our culture hasn't taught us to distinguish between events and our interpretation of events. We tend to turn our perceptions into absolutes, often negative ones. We continue to overwork ourselves on the job, for instance, thinking, "I can't possibly take a day off." Then finally our body says "enough!" We get the flu and miss a week. And yes, we may fret about missing work, but when we get back we realize the world didn't come to an end! The situations around us have power over us only because we surrender that power to them through our interpretations of reality. We do this almost daily. For example, if you're driving somewhere and you feel rushed, you'll get very impatient if you hit a red light or if some idiot cuts you off. On the other hand, if you're traveling the same route but you're having a really enjoyable conversation with someone you really like, you probably won't notice any of these inconveniences. In fact, you'll probably be grateful for the red light! We all make our own reality. If you're like most of the people I counsel or coach, you can't avoid the fact that you're manufacturing a great deal of your own anxiety. How can you stop? First, just determine that from this moment on you're going to be happy no matter what. Decide to take a lighter view of life. By the way, even ancient warrior traditions recommend that approach, and they were constantly facing death and mutilation. If they could do it, so can you. The Rock Solid Tranquility course includes a very specific and detailed method for doing this. It's a method with a long history in many ancient traditions and it's easy and fun to do. And that's just an addendum to the HARA method itself, which is in many ways easy and fun as well. In any case, your job is to stop taking your own interpretations of reality as gospel truth. They're only an interpretation - nothing more. Once you can see that, you'll become much less vulnerable to what's going on around you. When we have such an emotional investment in interpreting everything, we get more and more anxious and stressed. Strangely enough, our tendency to try to fit everything that happens into our own preconceived worldview is a defense mechanism of the ego. But like every other strategy the ego comes up with, it backfires. So let yourself sink into the rich tapestry of life and stop evaluating everything around you. Don't sweat the small stuff... and it's all small stuff!
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