These are the opening words of The Road Less Travelled by Scott Peck and one of my favorite quotations. Peck calls it a “great truth” because once we truly see it, we transcend it. When we accept that life is difficult, its difficulty no longer controls us.Life is difficult.
This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.
It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.
Once we truly know that life is difficult — once we truly understand and accept it — then life is no longer difficult.
Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.
Many of us live under the assumption that life should be easy, and when it isn’t, we feel that something has gone wrong. Yet problems are not signs of failure; they are the fabric of life itself.
The paradox, as Peck suggests, is that life becomes easier once we stop expecting it to be easy. Acceptance changes our relationship with difficulty. It replaces frustration with understanding and struggle with purpose.
Knowledge Letter: Issue: 305 (Subscribe)
Tags: life (19)
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Photo Credits: Midjourney (Public Domain)
