7 Reasons You Can't Leave Your Life to Chance

1. Chances are, when you feel like everyone else is out to get you, it's just you who's beating yourself up over something you haven't dealt with properly. (This is called projecting.)

2. Chances are, that person who was rude to you on the phone or in the checkout line was really just worried about something in their own life and it had nothing to do with you. Don't take it personally. Brush it off and move on.

3. Chances are, the person you spend so much time being jealous of and comparing yourself to isn’t who you think they are. He or she is likely to have a host of their own issues now; or they have grown past more hurdles than you can imagine getting to where they are. Just be you and your time will come.

4. Chances are the person who undermined you at work, is worried about potentially losing their job and not being able to feed their family. Continue to do your best work, and your opportunity will come--and it will probably be better than the one they blocked. (Shhhh! Don't tell them that!)

5. Chances are that worrying about that problem isn't going to solve it. Seek solutions and take action toward them.

6. Chances are that he isn't going to change if he's already treated you poorly for this long. The good news is that you can change yourself and your situation even though you can't control him.

7. Chances are they’re not going to communicate the way you want them to, or behave the way you think they should; so release your expectation and accept them for who they are and what they are capable of. No matter how much you’d like them to change, you can’t force them to.

The likelihood is slim that your reaction to your external circumstance is ever actually a result of anything external. We can control what happens on the outside, by how we conduct ourselves on the inside, since all the situations we encounter are experienced the way we perceive them. Each day we have the opportunity to choose to try or not, to react or not, to change or not. You can play the victim, or you can turn your focus inward because this is where you’ll experience your breakthrough.

The moment that you own your feelings, you will stop being controlled by them. When you view strangers or people who upset you with love you will be able to sympathize with their pain. When you love yourself unconditionally, you will see your own gifts and move forward with the confidence of knowing that you are (or are working toward) being the best version of you. When you treat yourself more kindly, others will follow suit because you have set the standard.

Chances are you will experience a more peaceful and fulfilling life, when you take control of the reigns and live it from the inside out.