“Behind the Serenity Prayer is a two-thousand-year-old stoic phrase: ‘ta eph’hemin, ta ouk eph’hemin.’ Translated it is; What is up to us, what is not up to us.

And what is up to us?

Our emotions

Our judgments

Our creativity

Our attitude

Our perspective

Our desires

Our decisions

Our Determination

This is our playing field, so to speak. Everything there is fair game. These are the areas we focus our control on to make progress in life.

What is not up to us?

Well, you know, everything else. The weather, the economy, circumstances, other people’s opinions, other people’s emotions or judgments, trends, disasters, etc.  These are the things out of our control, it isn’t our concern, and if we make it our concern we will be distracted from making forward progress, we will be fighting against resistance, as we are focusing on things we have no control over.

I guess the easiest way to sum this up is to say; Only focus on what you can control, on the what is up to us stuff. If you do life will be much more enjoyable and prosperous.