The ABCs of Remaining Cool in a Crazy World

Stephen Covey in the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People writes about the gap between stimulus and response where we have free will to chose and take responsibility for our response. This is habit 1 Be Proactive. To quote from the 7 Habits wikipedia article:

1. Be Proactive. Here, Covey emphasizes the original sense of the term "reactive" as coined by Victor Frankl. You can either be proactive or reactive when it comes to how you respond to certain things. When you are reactive, you blame other people and circumstances for obstacles or problems. Being proactive means taking responsibility for everything in your life. Initiative and taking action will then follow. Covey also shows how man is different from other animals in that he has self-consciousness. He has the ability to detach himself and observe his own self; think about his thoughts. He goes on to say how this attribute enables him: It gives him the power not to be affected by his circumstances. Covey talks about stimulus and response. Between stimulus and response, we have the power of free will to choose our response.

Albert Foong (www.urbanmonk.net) in a guest post on zen habits describes this as the ABC's and D's of responding to the crazy world we live in.

Here is what he says about how to stay cool.

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