Powerful thoughts from Twice. Well said.
My bottom line is that all I can control are my actions and reactions to events surrounding me.
When problems come up, I can work on the problem or I can work on me. The problems never get any better when I bear down on them. What does get better, if and when I choose to let go, are my actions and reactions.
I can't re-hit any shot I've already taken and sometimes even my best shots land in a divot through no fault of my own, but I can do the next right action based on where I find myself in this exact moment.
I'm so far from perfect at it, but when I'm mindful of it good things happen. Bad things happen too, but I can find myself in less dis-ease (disease) if I'm focused on right here and right now.
For me, it was little things at first. I'd get wound up over politics and social drama. My sponsor suggested that I quit listening to political radio and stop watching the 24 hour news cycle. In short order, the political turmoil seemed to improve. Intellectually I knew it was still going on, but it didn't affect me as much and seemed to be better when I didn't allow my mind to participate in something over which I had no control. Most of my life's problems die of neglect.
The book says when I am disturbed, something is wrong with me. That's a tough pill to swallow at first but it becomes more palatable and eventually it becomes freeing when I look inward instead of outward. What am I scared of? What am I worried about losing or not getting? Am I OK, right here and right now?
Most of the time I suck at it, but I'm at least mindful and when the gut tightens enough, I'll say "oh yeah....this feeling is my own doing". The event or circumstance is not my doing but the reaction to it is.
If I start whining to my sponsor he tends to remind me that if I find myself in a world full of assholes and confrontations, then I'm the common denominator in each equation.