FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL

The idea of focusing on what we can control is echoed by Dr Neel Burton, a psychiatrist, philosopher and author. He says: ‘If we are not to suffer from hope, fear and the other negative emotions, we must learn to distinguish between those things that are within our control, and those that are not. Anything that is external to us is not within our control – or, at least, not entirely within our control. The only thing that is entirely within our control is our own mind.’

Dr Burton believes that when it feels that the world is in turmoil, doing our best in our daily life means doing everything we can to ‘shoot accurately’. But, he cautions, ‘as soon as that arrow leaves us, we must accept that it is no longer within our control – much like the success of our actions – and, instead, subject to outside forces, such as a sudden change in wind speed or direction.’

‘Even less in our control,’ warns Dr Burton, ‘are wars and natural disasters. Instead of anguishing about them, we would do better to concentrate on making ourselves as useful as possible – which might involve campaigning or charity work, or simply sticking to what we do best.’

We cannot control the outcome of conflict abroad, but we can control our own approaches to conflict in our everyday lives. That is what we can focus our energies on. We cannot control how our actions are received by the world, but we can control what those actions are.