Five Things We Cannot Change!

If I had to choose just one book that I consider necessary for my spiritual and mental health it would certainly be "The Five Things We Cannot Change And the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them" by David Richo. Catchy title, huh? Mr. Richo blends the rich spiritual disciplines of the ages in a way that is simple and yet has profound impact.

The five things are:

1. Everything changes and ends.
2. Things do not always go according to plan.
3. Life is not always fair.
4. Pain is part of life.
5. People are not loving and loyal all the time.

No one is exempt from these givens of life. When we fall under the spell of ego, we may momentarily forget the givens; until one or more of them face us squarely and head on! How can we proceed joyously with these unpredictabilities? Only with an unconditional "Yes!"

When we accept and embrace the knowledge of these dynamic conditions, rather than clinging to the illusion of a static environment, we become freed from the brittle, unmaleable ego.

In Mr. Richo's words: Although everything changes and ends, things renew themselves and move through cycles that further upward evolution.

Although things do not always go according to plan, we sometimes sense a larger plan at work through synchronicity that opens wondrous possibilities!

Although life is not always fair, something in us remains committed to fairness and refuses to be unjust or retaliatory.

Although suffering is a part of life, we have ways of dealing with it and thereby we expand our powers to handle future pain and help others in their pain.

Although people are not always loving and loyal, nothing has to get in the way of our acting with loving-kindness and not giving up on others. No human action can take away another's capacity to love.

If we greet each day proclaiming an emphatic and unconditional "Yes!" our stress levels will recede and the potential for joy returns.