Controllable vs. Uncontrollable Things
In life, there are a lot of things that happen to us that we cannot control. Having said that, we don’t need the rest of our life to be negatively impacted as a result. Today, we talk about why it’s important to focus more on things we can control during tough times, rather than focusing on what we cannot. In the following, we have two examples to show the controllable achievements in the world: 江天霖(T. L. Chiang)，台灣鋼琴家；白祐帆(Dylan Pai). 國際標準舞老師，英國國際舞蹈教師協會IDTA認證教師。
如果很喜歡、很喜歡，那就放手去做吧！透過音樂的自我實踐，江天霖正在彈奏著超越文字語言的訊息，用旋律渲染一次次的感動，只要與音樂連結，都能是他的舞台。江天霖說，因為我熱愛音樂，所以，不管多苦多難，我都願意。
     記得小時候，很多人的家裡，都會放一台鋼琴，但多半是父母希望自己的小孩，能從音樂領域中，有所啟發；江天霖正好相反，小時候是個電視兒童，對任何聲音都充滿好奇，雖然家中有鋼琴，但一開始是哥哥在彈，後來，他是吵著跟媽媽說他想學。自發性地彈琴，讓江天霖從小就跟音樂當好朋友。如果人生有兩條路可以選擇，一條是很平穩舒適的，一條是充滿荊棘艱困的，而音樂正是那條非常困難的路，我們願不願意選擇走下去呢？江天霖說，他願意。他很小就觸碰著這些上上下下的音符記號，音樂已從他的興趣喜好，轉變成「責任」了。來自音樂班的地獄訓練，他就得學會自我管理、自己盯進度，並面對同儕的競爭。這當然會很累囉！但為何可以堅持呢？因為是自發的喜愛，所以堅持。音樂是一種超越文字語言的訊息，除了家人，更是我們最熟悉的陪伴。對江天霖來說，不管是低潮，還是瓶頸，都是開心的時刻，因為音樂可以廢寢忘食，更可以自我療癒，感到幸福。
     白祐帆說，我從未想過，舞蹈竟然能讓我的人生，有如此大的轉變。對我來說，跳舞是一種渴望。兒時身處在鄉村的傳統家庭中，也沒想過找舞蹈教室學舞，但看到電視，聽到音樂，身體就開始舞動了。在我大三升大四的時候，我來到人生的轉捩點：研究所還是跳舞？數不清的練習、上課，還有一場場的比賽，早已一步步讓我走向專業舞者的路了。但是，如果我要考研究所，就必須全力投入，才能進入我想要的學校，這也意味著我無法兼顧舞蹈。親戚朋友說：「好好讀書，找個好工作，穩定的成長，不是很好嗎？」「教跳舞會不會餓死啊？！」
     儘管我從小就有跳舞的渴望，但這跟有無天份，完全是兩碼子事。我不是天生的舞者，從小就姿勢不良。在舞蹈，永遠沒有做的夠多的時候。當自己感覺已經做了很多時，看看鏡子，看看自己錄下的跳舞片段，還差的遠呢！這是我們必須接受的事實。我們要不斷地突破自己，才會進步。白祐帆說，有很多人，想學鋼琴、跳舞，都說自己沒有音樂細胞，身體不協調等等，因為太多的擔心而止步，但學了之後，往往證明這些都不是真的。記住，我們永遠不要害怕去嘗試新的事物，因為，我們絕對可以超越時空，廢寢忘食的。
      The fact is, we can do controllable things to expect the uncontrollable outcome. The universe is, actually, always full of potentials and possibilities. Look at this, in our today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to get caught up in the things we can’t control. For example, we obsess over the weather, our jobs, and other people’s opinions of us, etc. Really, there’s nothing we can do to control the weather, so worrying about it won’t make the storm go away. The same goes for our jobs and other people’s opinions. Of course, that’s easier said than done. But, the point is, there’s no way in worrying about something we can’t change and control. We can only know the controllable things, and take action to improve the situations. We can just focus on our attitudes, our affections and our actions to do the controllable things. Bad things happen to everyone every day, but how we choose to react them defines us. If we can see the silver lining in every cloud, we would be better equipped to deal with whatever life throws to us. Life is, no doubt, full of hardships, however, how we learn and grow from those problems matters. We can become stronger and wiser by looking for the positive things that we are able to control.
The following are some of the most common outlets we can use to control in order to deal with things that are out of their control:
Talking to a friend or family member
Writing down thoughts in a journal
Seeing a therapist
Working out
Running or going for a jog
Yoga
Meditating
Organizing or cleaning
Watching a movie or TV show
Hanging out with friends
Breathing exercises
Eating out
Cooking
It’s necessary to find a balance between taking care of the things we have to, and taking care of ourselves. Handling things beyond our power (uncontrollable) can be challenging. The truth is, things we can’t control would be also parts of our lives. Therefore, we need to learn to cope with the uncontrollable things, and live happier, more fulfilling lives. Happiness or a positive disposition is a choice. Our attitudes are the kinds of energy that we project to the world. Thus, going into a difficult situation with a positive attitude increases the likelihood of finding a path through a possible solution. Next are our affections. One of the best way to reduce the stress we are feeling is to increase the amount of connectedness we feel in our lives to other trusted and safe people. Just being able to talk to a friend or colleague who can safely handle our feelings is enormously powerful. Last but not least, we can control our actions. Our future is dictated by our disciplined actions in the form of what we do each day, the habits we develop and what we strive for with purposes. By way of our attitudes, our affections and our actions, we can handle our controllable things, and even expect the great amounts of good uncontrollable things happened in our lives soon.