I read quite a while ago that people tend to use today’s faster brakes and better steering to drive faster and more dangerously than they used to. Someone commented that if you want slower, more careful drivers, you should mount a very sharp bayonet on the top of the steering column in the center of the steering wheel. Then, a slight mistake would be bad so people would be very careful to avoid dangerous moves and sudden stops.
I know a young lady who was born with Type I diabetes. She seems to be taking very good care of herself and following the guidelines for exercise and eating. I read in “Healthy Pleasures” by Robert Ornstein and David Sobel that studies have found that some people who have lost their sight or become quadriplegics say that those misfortunes were the BEST thing that ever happened to them. They state that with those heavy handicaps, they really have to live attentively and fully.
The columnist Nancy Gibbs wrote in Time of Nov. 23, 2009 that the current recession is a time when many people are reporting feeling BETTER and HAPPIER than they have felt during richer, easier times.
Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, a professor of management and psychology, reports that people are in a satisfying “flow” of life or athletics or other endeavors when they experience a challenge that calls for their best but is one that just stretches them.
Some Buddhists state they are encouraged when they discover they are suffering. Then, they get a chance to observe how the suffering feels and where they are dealing with it in their bodies.
Failures and disappointments are inevitable in this life but they, too, have value. Notice I didn’t even mention the lessons these negatives sometime provide not to do that again.
