Travelling to Cagayan De Oro, I brought a book with me called “The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Button”, reading it on the plane rides and during idle time so common when travelling. And I read the part called the Consolations of the Fustrated …. after experiencing a death of a batchmate and the constant irritants of everyday life, it was indeed enlightening and well made me think more. I would like to share to you some of tid bits of what I read quoting from the book time to time.
Fortune / Unexpected Events
“There is Nothing which Fortune does not dare”
This line is very powerful, since Fortune can shift virtually everything, and change things into what we cannot expect. Fortune can make a moment into an event, disasterous or not.
After I read the chapter, I don’t believe in the wheel of fortune anymore, but to the ball of fortune that rolls and spins everwhere, there is no top, no bottom nor is there a cycle of top to bottom.
Injustice
” I do not allow [Fortune] to pass sentence upon myself” – Seneca
We tend to blame ourselves when bad things happen even when we are not or had no power over. Deaths of friends, odd cicumstances leading to destroying or damaging relationships and many things more.
We should always remind ourselves that we are not given our destiny by our moral worth. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. Fortune will not give you good fortune, she will give you anything she wishes. Not everything that happens to us occurs with reference to something about us.
Anxiety
” I will despise whatever lies in the domain of Fortune, but if a choice is offered, I will choose the better half ” – Seneca
Sometimes we think too optimistically where we wish for the impossible but usually we think about everything and anything that could go wrong. When planning for your party, you think what if….what if…..OMG what if…or when you plan for an event and something goes wrong you go OMG ..OMG…OMG…or when suddenly your Girl/Boyfriend stopped replying to your texts and calls after you sent a message that requires immediate reply and you go…OMG REPLY !!! REPLY …..it is okay…he/she must be busy….OMG what if…oh no …what if he/she wants to break with me. …….Noooooo !!!
Unfortunately for you..the worst may happen and most probably what you planned it to be would be totally different. But try asking yourself what do really fear ? is it sound ? can I endure it ?. Can you endure the worst ? the answer is only yes and with that watch all your anxeity be radically reduced. What if in your party the waiter trips and wets you ? is that a reason to freak out or an opportunity to spice up the evening ? What if a typhoon hits ? is the event over or is it an oppurtunity to plan an even better event ? What if your Boy/Girlfriend wants to get out of the relationship ? Is it a reason to kill yourself or is it an oppurtunity to show your love to that special person ?
And as seneca says : A The wise man will not despise himself even if he has the structure of a dwarf, but he nevertheless wishes to be tall (I love this line) and The wise man can losing nothing. He has everything invested in himself.
Bad things will happen but not often, and when something Bad does happen, what can it do to you anyway ?
When Seneca’s power, reputation and wealth was taken away from him when we has exiled under unfair terms by Emperor Nero he wrote a letter to his mother : ” I have kept a wide gap (between he and his wealth, power and reputation) and so she (Fortune) has merely taken them, not torn them from me. ”
And and in order to ….
“The wise men do not put a wrong construction upon everything”
How many times have we got home, tried from a day from school, and wanting to go online and surf the net and then found out to discover that your internet won’t connect (I am fustrated when this happens, oftenly). You try to look for the connection, reset the connectins, reset the computer and after an hour of trying to fix it, you just don’t. You mumble and slam the door in fustration and then lie on your bed fustrated and you say : The internet is broken in order to annoy me, (insert numerous reasons why you deserve the connection). This often happens to people too i.e. idiotic cashiers and drivers
Unfortunately, there is no solution to this event. You cannot change the past or your destiny/fortune but you can change your attitude to this event. Remember A wise man/woman do not put wrong construction upon everything. Instead of saying : The internet is broken in order to annoy me….say instead : The internet is broken and I am Annoyed. There is a big difference between the two, first it makes you calmer and makes you look at the world at a lighter way not in a way as if the world is out to fustrate you. In the end you are still in an unpleasant situation but you don’t have to be furious. Not being furious can mean the difference between doing you accounting homework and not doing it, I can attest to that hahaha
Final words
We are like a dog being pulled by a cart, wherever it goes we are pulled by it. Decide to fight it we get choked and then forced to follow or just follow where the jerking is where ever it wants it to go. Unlike a dog, we humans have an ability to think logically and predict where the cart is going (Sciences) and yet sometimes it would go somewhere we totally didn’t predict like Pag-asa. When this happens do we fight it or go with the flow ?
However, Seneca doesn’t say that we should always go with the flow and stop predicting or creating or else if we keep on following there would be no progress.
“It is no less unreasonable to accept something necessary when it isn’t as to rebel against something when it is. We can as easily go astray by accepting the unnecessary and denying the possible, as by denying the necessary and wishing the impossible. It is for reason to make the distinction”
Basically, do not fight the unnecessary and do not deny the possiblities.
What need is there to weep over parts of life ?
The whole of it calls for tears – Secena
I hope this small article help all those who are fustrated or at least equipped you with something next time, someone cuts you or when your SmartBro connection disappears.Take care
The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton can be bought from the Different Book Store it has branches in Eastwood, Serendra, Podium and Virramall. If you want one, I can buy for you ( i get 12% discount) 
I’ll ask how much lang XD I forgot hahaha
I wanted to say that it’s nice to know that someone else also mentioned this as I had trouble finding the same info elsewhere. This was the first place that told me the answer. Thanks…
I seemed to be aware of this previously, nevertheless there have been some helpful bits that finished the image for me, thanks!