reframing

New Years Day 2:
Lately I have been stuck on trying to figure out why it is so hard for me to reframe my perceptions about the many things I am so frustrated by: those iron gates of musical employment  outside of academia that seem rusted shut, life's curve balls in terms of timing and circumstances that sting so much...
Is it really impossible to ask for the possibility of getting up well-rested and being excited about my day and my work with a tiny side of the ability to escape for coffee and croissants in Paris or a walk in the woods, etc., etc.?

This concept of reframing the serenity prayer actually made sense for once.

The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience.

Those two sentences are a pretty good way to sum up the human experience. As an exercise, think about how the world’s major religions and philosophies are attempts to help people manage these desires and acceptance.

from Mark Manson’s book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck:

via {kottke}