If you listen to the news at all, it seems like things are bad. And, to be honest, things are not as good as they were 12 months ago, but all hope is not lost, my dear friends.

Yes, times are tough and probably will get a bit tougher before they start to improve, but that doesn't mean that it is time to abandon hope; rather it is time to take a step back and start the process of taking control of your life.

Reinhold Niebuhr is famous for the little prayer that he is credited with writing that you may have heard:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Regardless of which God you may believe in, it is a good way to life your life. Take just a couple of minutes and consider the following in light of that.

You're driving somewhere on the highway and someone whips around you, cutting you off and speeding away. If you are like many people, this is going to irritate you. Your blood pressure will rise just a bit and you'll get irritated because someone who is obviously an idiot just cut you off. But there's another way to look at that.

Perhaps the driver of that car was in a hurry because they had just received word that their significant other had been in a wreck and they are on their way to see them. If you knew that was the case, you'd probably be a little less upset with what had just happened.

Given that, the two possible scenarios, consider some differences between them. In the first, the driver cut you off, you let your blood pressure go up, triggered the stress response, and probably didn't help your mood in general. The driver of that car, however, was in no way affected by your actions.

In the second scenario, the driver cut you off but you stayed calm, your blood pressure didn't go up, and you prevented triggering the stress response. The driver of that car, however, was in no way affected by your actions.

And that's the key point. In both cases, your reactions made no difference to the driver, they only affected you. Understanding this is one of the steps on the path toward both wisdom and peace; or, to paraphrase Mr. Niebuhr, it is wisdom to distinguish between what you cannot change and what you can. You cannot change the other driver's actions, you can change your response.

Think back over the last 24 hours and name something that stressed you. Did your response, stressing over what had happened, impact the situation in a positive way? If you had remained calm, would that have changed the situation any? Feel free to comment on this post with your own insights as to how this advice can apply to your life. Anonymous comments must be approved so you may want to register and also get all the benefits that come with that.