The world/universe cannot, and will not, always give you what you want. There are three ways to react when something is “not right”:

1) You can become depressed, sad, bored, angry, and/or fight the world. Such thinking only hurts you or the world, because what is, is what is.

2) You can simply accept whatever life throws your way, that is a much better way to go. You make the best of what is, as much as you can.

3) You can do much more when you do not fully rely on what is. You are not 100% dependent on the world. You cannot stop the world, so why let it stop you? Whatever you have when you close your eyes is always yours. You may have to learn to think slow means go (and freedom). Dead ends mean you can attempt to find something productive to do. When someone or something says no, their no contains seeds of creating many more yes situations that rely on your short and long-term thinking and actions, which you can (mostly?) control.

The phone does not ring. What does this mean? Almost always, it means the phone is simply not ringing. That is all it means, unless your mind attaches extra meanings to a phone not ringing. (The same is true with email, dollars, postal mail, and faxes.)

You could feel bad or bored or worse – thinking that slow is wrong or bad. What slow, or not getting what you want really means, is it is time to think or do something else.

In the example of the phone, be available to answer the phone, but do not dwell on the phone situation, or let it slow you down. You can clean, listen to music, spend time with family or pets, do filing, back up your computer, work on a web site, write an article, shop, cook, read, watch TV, exercise, pray, meditate, or do a thousand other productive or enjoyable things.

There is a great song, written by Roger Miller named (I think Jim Nabors sang the best version) “You can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd”. A portion of the song lyrics are “Ya can’t drive around with a tiger in your car – but you can be happy if you’ve a mind to – All ya gotta do is put your mind to it.” I think this song is a model for a good state of mind: I cannot get the world to do what I want (right now) but I can do all kinds of other things, that can or should be done, or are just fun.

One analogy I think of is that I control voltage, and the world controls the amperage. Voltage is electromotive force – the potential to get things done, to make things move or happen. Amperage is the power – the things we cannot directly control. If the voltage and amperage combine by chance or plan, good things may happen.

Here are some examples of how I think of the world in terms of voltage and amperage:

When I smile, that is voltage, what my smile accomplishes depends on who is around and how they react. I cannot control that, that is what I call amperage. I can create a nice web site, but I cannot make people go there. I can pet my cat, but he might later barf on the carpet.

The actions I take and how I behave, maximize my chances (voltage) for success – but the amperage is external, the part I cannot control. I am the voltage, the world is the amperage.

Examples of amperage are my looks, the weather, the economy, the government, media, religion, my age, other people – things I cannot control are amperage. A thousand volts does very little at zero amps.

When circumstances are dire, you may have to create and have a lot of voltage to cause any extra amperage. Even then, it is kind of a karma thing, lots of voltage seems to create opportunity that seems to attract and invite amperage to produce some good results.

To the extent you can control what you can control, you can make things better. Examples might be your web page, your looks, your work, your outlook, your attitude, and your actions. Most of what happens in life happens in your own head, if you are a hammer, the world will look like a nail.

If you directly or indirectly help people, it builds up good karma. Worrying is ineffectual. If you can affect the outcome for the positive, then act. If you cannot, then accept you cant and hope for the best.

I sometimes pretend I am working on a antenna to hear or broadcast what I can control. If you take dead time, and make it productive time, you are working on your antenna.

How effective will your antenna be in picking up signals? That is not up to you directly, however when you improve your thinking, behavior, your work habits, your web site, or anything else you can improve, you are inviting great outcomes.

When it is “dead” and nothing is happening, that is an opportunity for doing something productive. Writing this article near Christmas, seemed a productive thing to do on a rare day when business was slow.