Why Loving Everything Will Save You

Have you ever been around someone that always seems to find the good in things? Someone who may have something happen to them that would make you flip sh*t, but they don't even react to it, much at all?

Whatever the answer is, think about how great it would feel to be the person to not be phased, when it may seem to others, like all hell is breaking lose. Is this possible?

Well, let's take a look at history to find out, a great example of this was brought to my attention by Ryan Holiday, New York Times Best selling author.

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of America, had dealt with a fire that had burned part of his factory business, where much of his life's work had been done, and that had destroyed part of the harvard university laboratories. Supposedly during the fire that was engulfing his inventions, his son was struck with bewilderment and not knowing how to react. His dad, Benjamin told him, "Son, go grab your mother, we will never see a fire this big again". He later had been quoted with saying that he definitely would not get bored with the rebuilding of the factory and was excited to get back to work. Imagine having your whole life's work burned up in a fire that is out of your control. How would you respond?

I know how I have felt when I type up something and a paragraph disappears! I start yelling curse words and want to shut my computer..! Depending on how much time I was typing the paragraph, the computer might end up being thrown out of the window! Haha.

What would it feel like to have the mindset, the steel will, to realize that it is happening for you, instead of to you, and you can use any circumstance; your life burning up all at once, to have fun rebuilding it to be stronger and better than before. If you've done it once, you can do it again, right?

Quick question. Do you have a mentor in life, or someone who has ever helped you in something? If you are alive, and human, then the answer is probably a yes!

How did they get to the position to help you? At what point in their lives did they gain the experience to help you? Through making a decision in to use what is happening for them, and to learn from it. This is an opportunity to do the same.

Who can you help after going through this?

Who can you help after growing through this?

I love stories like this. Ones that help us to grow through our life, such as many people have before us. Ask yourself, do I really have a factory burning down in my life with all of my life's work involved? Maybe, maybe not. I know when I usually get to a point in asking that question, I answer with no, it is something that someone said to me in my job, training people to get better, with a salary, in beautiful Colorado, at a state of the art facility, in America, in 2021. This is a damn pretty good life.

Below is Amor Fati, a stoic principle on loving fate, which inspired this blog post.

Thanks!

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Ryan Bresnahan

ryanjbresnahan@gmail.com