Can One Develop a Calm and Happy Relationship with Reality?

This month, you are invited to come for a conversation about the challenge of participating fully in life but not letting the changes and chances of life overwhelm. There is a Buddhist term for this which is "equanimity". Orcella Rexford was a Minnesota born teacher and writer who called this approach to life "Radiant Acquiescence". The Moslem concept for this is "Submission to the Will of God". Wise men and women have recorded many suggestions and thoughts on this topic and it seems timely to discuss.

In this election season, many of us are feeling hope and then anxiety, up and down, depending upon news that changes hourly. When this election is over, many will feel elation, while others will feel disheartened and even anger and fear. But it is not just our political world that stirs us up emotionally. We fret and rail over both intentional and unintentional little slights and slanders but how much more so over perceived injustices and apparently insurmountable difficulties such as hurricanes and life-threatening illness. Life in this world has always included these personal challenges but social media has intensified the emotional roller coaster with an overload of information about more people and places and social situations than any one person can emotionally process. We grieve and worry about our own circumstances and about events that are thousands of miles away and entirely out of our control.

"The death of one thing is the birth of another. Watch the eternal course of destruction and realize that the universe itself sustains no harm amidst all this change. The only true good is religion, which teaches us to keep our guiding principles pure and untainted by bodily impressions. Nothing external can influence us unless we pronounce it good or evil. Cease your complaint and you are not hurt. " Marcus Aurelius

Just to clarify, this Halloween night conversation is not intended be about politics but rather intended to be a discussion about how to banish the little happiness thieves and big scary imaginary monsters in life, the ghosts of sadness and the demons of life stealing anger. I am gathering some great quotes to inspire our conversation but I trust that many of you have wisdom of your own to share.