Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Principle 2: Realm of Control Recognition

Recognize what is inside your realm of control and do not worry about things that are outside of it.
After a simple google search enquiring about the definition of the word realm, it becomes obvious what the meaning is because only one word defines it....kingdom. A bit of thought about the connotations the word 'kingdom' conjures up mentally and it gives us a bit of insight into what this principle really means. America is no kingdom. It is a republic (allegedly). A kingdom implies the existence a person who rules over it, hence the name KINGdom. A king rules over a kingdom sovereignly and his word goes unquestioned.

There is a piece of very exciting news in this new information. You and I and every single other human being on he face of this planet is a king (queen for you ladies). I know what you are thinking...if I am a king, then why am I having to eat this disgusting McDonalds every day? Regrettably, due to the idea of scarcity, everyone simply cannot be rich. In some ways the kingdom over which you and I rule is much more precious than any of great amounts of land and riches. We have the unbelievable opportunity to be sovereign over everything in our lives. Of course we are not in control of the situation that we are born into, that is not my assertion. I assert that we are one hundred percent in control of our reactions to things. The first step to that is realizing what is inside your kingdom of control and what is outside.

How to totally eliminate stress

Two kinds of things that can cause stress/worry:

1. Those things that you cannot influence or assert some amount of control over.
2. Those things that you can influence or asset some amount of control over.

The second that you start seeing the stressful events in your life as one of these two kinds of things, you will be on a new road toward living a very low-stress life.

The step that follows identifying the type is simply to stop wasting time thinking and mulling over those things of type 1. It is absolutely a waste of the most valuable thing that you possess on this planet and that is time.



Being in control of this life is akin to being a captain that is in charge of a ship out to sea. No matter how rough the waters or high the swells, the captain never worries about anything outside of the metal walls of his ship. Sure, he might observe the waves, but there is nothing that he can control outside of those walls. Any good captain knows that he must be aware of what is going on outside of the boat, but the place where he can make a difference and impact the outcome is on the inside of the boat. That is where all of his gauges to determine what is really going on outside are. The steering-wheel and motor is on the inside. These are the things he can use to navigate the sea. Spending time dwelling on what is going on outside of his boat is extremely disadvantageous and has the potential to be deadly in the wrong situation.

Defining what our own personal ship is seems a bit difficult at first glance, but after some thought it becomes clear; the walls of our ship extend as far as our ability to affect a given situation does. I will preface this by saying that worrying for any reason is very dumb. Worry does nothing but make life less pleasurable and serves absolutely no purpose. However, worrying is very natural. It takes conscious effort and the development of awareness to eradicate worry from your life.

There are two separate forms of worry.


  1. Type one is the necessary kind of worry. The mental act of worrying can serve as a trigger to alert you that there is something going on that is very important to you. 
  2. Type two is completely unnecessary and outright counterproductive. This is the kind that is outside your realm of control.                 


If you have a problem with worry, then I just gave you the key to minimizing that more than ever thought possible. So many people go through life stressed to the max because they continuously run scenarios that are completely fictional and most likely will never happen through their head; thus, creating drama that does not actually exist. The stress extends far beyond that however. It stretches from worrying about what decisions relatives and friends are going to make all the way to the line that will be used in the next conversation with that special someone. No matter the root, all of this worry can be eliminated by simply consciously beginning to become aware of the things that you can have influence over. If you decide that you do have a way to influence the outcome, then take the steps toward doing so. If not, then discard the thought from your mind and move on to the next task. This is the only reasonable and sensible way of dealing with stress. It also takes you a long step toward being more happy because much of what it is to be happy has to do with being void of stress.

I hope this helps someone live a little happier life. Now that you are done reading, go live it.