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The Growth Guide PodcastIf you enjoy this newsletter, You’ll love our Podcast, the Growth Guide. Every week, we talk to a subject matter expert or an accomplished author to help you, and me, be Healthier, Wealthier and Happier! While you’re there, please, do me a favor, drop a rating or review. When you do, we climb the charts, which allows us to talk to the guests you want on the show.
We’ll See…I read this parable when I was studying one of my mindfulness + meditation courses and it’s stuck with me since. Let me share my version of the parable with you and we can break it down. In a tranquil village, there was an old farmer with a single horse. One sunny day, to the farmer’s surprise, the horse escaped and ran into the wild. The villagers, concerned, gathered around, saying, This is terrible news! The farmer, calm and composed, responded, We’ll see… After a few days, the horse returned, bringing with it several wild horses. The villagers, amazed, congratulated the farmer, You’re so lucky! The farmer, gently brushing a horse, simply said, We’ll see… His son, eager to train the new horses, took on the task with enthusiasm. But, one afternoon, he was thrown off a horse and broke his leg. The villagers, sympathetic, said, Such misfortune! The farmer, tending to his son, replied, We’ll see… Soon after, heavy rains flooded the fields. The farmer couldn’t plow, and the villagers were worried about the crops. They said, This will be a tough year! The farmer, watching the rain, said, We’ll see… The rains stopped and the fields blossomed, more fertile than ever. The villagers rejoiced, Your fields are the most bountiful! The farmer, harvesting his crops, smiled, We’ll see… Then, a war broke out. Soldiers came to recruit the young men from the village. The farmer’s son, with his broken leg, was spared. The villagers said, Your son is lucky to stay! The farmer, with a knowing look, uttered, We’ll see…
Amor FatiThe parable reminds me of a Stoic concept called Amor Fati. Amor Fati is a Latin phrase that could be translated as either love of fate or love of one’s fate. A central tenet of the ancient and practical philosophy of Stoicism, often represented by the symbol of fire. As Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic Emperor of Rome, wrote a blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it. Though they likely never met, the lectures of Epictetus, which were made into Discourses by his student Arrian heavily influenced Marcus Aurelius. This relationship is beautiful in and of itself and is, to me, emblematic of Amor Fati. The words of Epictetus, a former slave, influenced Marcus Aurelius who would become the Emperor of Rome, perhaps the most powerful man in the world at that time. The words of Epictetus echoed throughout Marcus Aurelius’ own writings in Meditations. On Amor Fati, Epictetus said don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will — then your life will be serene. The concept of Amor Fati continued into the 19th Century when Friedrich Nietzsche said my formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it — all idealism is mendacity in the face of what is necessary — but love it. Put simply, Amor Fati means to not only accept, but be grateful and love what has happened, what is happening and what will happen. What happens to you may not be positive. In fact, it may be horrible, if you let it be… The stimulus is the stimulus. How you perceive the stimulus is your choice. No one else’s. Don’t let the arrow hit you twice. TGG PodcastThis week on the Growth Guide Podcast, we talked to John G Miller. John is the Founder of QBQ, Inc., an organizational development firm based in Colorado dedicated to Helping Organizations Make Personal Accountability a Core Value. A 1980 graduate of Cornell University, John has been involved in the training and speaking industry since 1986. John joined us today to talk about his best-selling book, The Question Behind the Question. Too many people are trapped by:
If you want to change your life, this conversation is for you.
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