Bigger Plans

"Whenever you find yourself blaming providence, turn it around in your mind and you will see that what has happened is in keeping with reason." (Epictetus, Discourses 3.17)

Ryan Holiday explains this perfectly. "Part of the reason we fight against the things that happen is that we're so focused on our plan that we forget that there might be a bigger plan we don't know about . . . . We also forget that we're not the only people who matter and that our loss might be someone else's gain."

I am learning not to get upset when things don't go my way. How about you? Epictetus teaches that there's a "reason" at work, far beyond ours. Yes, we should make plans but we should also be flexible for we simply do not understand enough of all things to make plans perfectly. Don't miss this though: Epictetus did not come up with this principle out of the blue. Reason led him to it. We know this because the same principle surfaces in other cultures--an objective and personal being has a purpose at work.

Life becomes much easier when we remember there are two parts to the equation: my subjectivity + a personal objectivity = guided reason.

Why should we shake our fist at God when things don't go our way? We don't know the number of hairs on the back of a Tibetan yak, so how can we say that God is to blame for our failed plans? We just don't know enough. Turn it around in your mind and see there's a greater mind at work. Be relieved of that responsibility, shift gears and try again.

Don't stop thinking big, though.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Rom. 8:28)