The problem is that the mind typically selects action to remove the pain and not necessarily healthy actions. Some of us turn to exercise and meditation. Many of us turn to bad habits like over eating, drinking or smoking.

Anything that can provide immediate, albeit it temporary relief from our pain.

Learning to exercise mindfulness when you experience something, both positive and negative, allows witness what is happening and allow you to make better and hopefully more permanent solutions.

The story of the the green sea turtle in the book, The Cafe on the Edge of the World, is a phenomenal example of how to accept life on life’s terms. Rather than fighting as hard as you can to get the outcome you think you want, the purpose of life should be first as an observer and then as an actor.

Focus on your daily gratitude’s each day. Journal the source of your emotions. Learn to identify when the “waves of life are coming in”. Master the moments of when the “waves of life are pushing you forward”.

Take advantage of to ebb and flow of the world. Free your mind from your emotions and thoughts.

As it says in the Big Book of AA, “And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today, when I am disturbed it is because I find some person, place or thing unacceptable to me.”

Remember, “Don’t swim against the current of life. Focus on the right people, the right activities, and the right things. Only then will it carry you to your dreams.”

The reality of well lived life comes with acceptance of your experiences, both positive and negative, as both contribute to who you will become and how you will handle what you are dealt next.

I was on a hike in the woods with my family the other day. I took a wrong turn and ended up taking my family on a close to a 5 mile, unplanned, unintended hike.

My family was really upset with me and the predicament I had put us into. I felt terrible. I started mumbling to myself about how everyone makes mistakes. I started to take it personally.

At one point, all my training and practice with spirituality and gratitude, I came started to change the tone of the conversation in my head. I started to go through my gratitude list. How amazing the woods were! How I was healthy enough to be on this hike! How at some point in the near future I will be sitting in an airconditioned car, drinking ice cold water and reflecting on what I had just accomplished!

This simple walk through the woods was captured masterfully as follows by Tony Fahkry:

1. Life Unfolds As It Should, Not According To My Schedule
2. Gratitude Draws More Abundance Into My Life
3. The World Is A Beautiful Place
4. Less Is More

After having a nationally televised panic attack, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists. Eventually, Harris realized that the source of his problems was the very thing he always thought was his greatest asset: the incessant, insatiable voice in his head, which had propelled him through the ranks of a hypercompetitive business, but had also led him to make the profoundly stupid decisions that provoked his on-air freak-out.

Finally, Harris stumbled upon an effective way to rein in that voice, something he always assumed to be either impossible or useless: meditation, a tool that research suggests can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain. 10% Happier takes readers on a ride from the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of America’s spiritual scene, and leaves them with a takeaway that could actually change their lives.

Winner of the 2014 Living Now Book Award for Inspirational Memoir