Book #1.2 Two Worlds

Do you think you have control over what you say or even how you say it?

I personally don’t have full control—I often react based on the situation or the people involved instead of responding to them. Not always, but most of the time.

I used to blame the situation or the people for my reaction, believing that this is the way. I reacted a certain way because you did this or this happened. But that wasn’t right.

Why? Because, in the end, I did more harm to myself than to them by replaying the situation on a loop— thinking about it, talking about it—only making things worse for me.

I think when we react, there is always this regret:

“I should not have reacted that way. I should have handled it differently”.

“I could have kept quiet and let go of what happened”.

We all know that we should always respond and not react, but how many of us actually do that.

I am okay admitting that I am not there yet, but I see my future self taking time to respond instead of reacting immediately. That’s the goal, and that should be our goal to have that control.

Because there is always a better and more thoughtful way to respond.

In the book, it talks about the two types of worlds that we live in:

What do you think— in which world do we spend most of our time?

Yes, you’re right—it’s the inner world, and that’s why it becomes even more important to understand it.

Today, we want situations to be perfect for us to be happy, calm, and stable. So, we are WAITING for the outside world to become perfect so that our inner world can be perfect too.

Read that again, and you’ll understand the real problem here.

“We have two options to choose from:

Option 1: We create an outer world that functions exactly the way we want and we let our inner world be dependent on it.

OR

Option 2: We realise that our inner world is independent of the outer world.”

Option 1 is IMPOSIBBLE— since the outer world, including people and situations, will never function exactly the way we want.

We just can’t control what happens around us, so it’s best to let go of that inner urge to change people or situations. We just can’t—so let’s not even expect them to behave in a certain way. They are not the solution to our inner problem—it’s us.

Which brings us to an option that is in our control—Option 2.

“Option 2 is achievable, and that’s where we need to focus our efforts so that, no matter what unexpected situations arise in the outer world, we still have the ability to remain emotionally stable and respond in the right way”.

To be continued…

P.S. As I progress with reading the book, Book #1.1, 1.2, and beyond will keep increasing. So stay tuned to discover more about what’s in the book.