Everything has a nature.

You look at an apple tree and you’re not surprised it produces apples. But you look at a road and you’re surprised it produces traffic.

You look at a cloud and you’re not caught off guard when rain falls from it. But you look at a relationship and you’re caught off guard when disagreements arise in it.

You look at a piano and have no expectation of beautiful music without training yourself how to play it. But you look at life and have an expectation of happiness and success without training yourself how to create it.

Rather than react surprised or upset by the nature of things, understand and acknowledge them. Study them. Learn their function. Understand their permanent, unchanging patterns. Appreciate their strengths and their weaknesses, their value and their cost.

Practice accepting what you can’t influence and train to impact what you can.

Discipline is the shortcut. Do the work.