Tim Urban may not be a great artist but his art provokes great thoughts...as does his writing:-)
There are two things that are guaranteed to inflict suffering on us (remember, suffering is self inflicted?) and they are our assumptions and our expectations.
Assumptions and expectations blind us to what actually is our reality by giving us an illusion of control and a scapegoat to blame when things don't work out. Something other than us and our foolish expectations and assumptions!
Assumptions blind us to our ignorance.
Expectations blind us to our lack of control.
Can you think of two things more likely to bring our happiness to a bad end? I can't.
Now imagine the opposite state of affairs, where you accept what is happening in your life without any expectation of things being different. It is what it is, and you are at peace with that. You have no assumptions about change, people, or events, because you know you cannot control those things. You focus on what you can control and let the rest go.
Guess what completely disappears from your life? Drama, that's what. Drama takes two, and if you are not dancing, it goes away.
And what is the opposite of drama?
Peace...
I have an A.A.A.C.C.A. model of present-minded thinking where the first two "A"'s are Accept and Allow. When we truly accept and allow ourselves to be right where we are, holding nothing back, the mental clarity we gain is amazing.
Life will never be exactly what we want it to be, and because we are so limited in our knowledge (see the above cartoon) what we think we want would likely cause us great suffering. By accepting life as it is, and allowing ourselves to soak in the beauty and wonder of a life uniquely ours, we will find the end of our suffering.
We will find peace in the here and now.
namaste