“Seek not for events to happen as you wish but rather wish for events to happen as they do and your life will go smoothly.” – Epictetus

If something is outside of our control, then the Stoic approach is to accept it. But it’s more than that: it’s to learn to love it. This is also called, in other circles, “loving what is.” And it’s powerful.

You can love the weather. Other people’s frustrating actions. World events. That doesn’t mean you can’t feel sad about disasters, but you can find the beauty, wonder and gratitude in them as well.

There’s a classic Stoic example of a dog tied to a moving cart. The dog can either follow the cart (which he doesn’t control) and enjoy the journey … or he resist the cart stubbornly and be pulled along the journey anyway, unhappy.

We’re the dog — we get to choose.

That doesn’t mean we give up on life and never take action to change things. We can always take action and change what we can control. But the rest? We can appreciate it all.