Scientists have estimated that it takes a worm about 100 erroneous tries before it learns that turning left leads to pain (small electroshock) and turning right leads to pleasure (food).

In theory we have been blessed with intellectual, analytical skills and cognitive abilities that are a million times superior than those of a worm. In practice, there are times when we find ourselves dumbstruck, wondering why have we done something so stupid… AGAIN!

While we might not always be able to avoid making mistakes all together, there are a few things we can do to reduce their frequency.

How Not to Make the Same Mistakes?

1. Appreciate yourself.

Taking every little mistake too close to heart, influences our self image and brings our confidence down, which, in turn, leads to more failures and lower self-esteem. Do not beat yourself up for what has gone wrong. There is a huge difference between “trying your best” and “doing everything you are theoretically capable of doing”. Always strive to do your best, but do not approach every task as a personal life challenge.

2. Break the habit.

Have you ever taken the wrong way going somewhere and when, weeks later, you went to the same place, you automatically turned to go in the wrong direction again? As if the erroneous part of the road has been included in the directions that your mind remembered.

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Do you believe in coincidences in life?

Just yesterday you were thinking about an old friend that you had not seen for ages and for some unexplainable reason this morning they called you.

Or how about the time when you made a seemingly insignificant decision: to grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks, to go to a friend’s party after work, to put your profile on one of the online dating websites – and this decision changed the course of your life.

Or about the time when you almost ran out of gas in the middle of Everglades National Park and suddenly right after a road sign “crocodile crossing” there it was – a tiny gas station lost in the middle of nowhere? (Ok this might not have happened to you. But I am sure that you have a similar crazy story to tell, when a situation you found yourself in looked absolutely hopeless, but strangely enough it resolved itself in the best possible way).

The question I ask myself is – are all these events just a chain of coincidences or have they been carefully woven into the invisible fabric of reality that we call destiny?

How does it work? Can we change or escape our fate or are there some events that we must face no matter what?

I wish I had it all figured out, but I am still trying to find answers to these questions. What I have read, studied and noticed from my personal experience is that there are a few Universal Laws that work without fail throughout the course of our life and to some extent shape our destiny.

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“The secret of happiness is knowing that there are some things you can control and some things you cannot.” – Epictetus

It is empowering to know that there are some things we can change and very reassuring to know that there are others that we can not. Things that are within our control, open a world of ever-increasing possibilities to us. Things we can not change or control allow us to develop acceptance, patience, wisdom and flexibility.

The challenge as I see it, is to tell the difference between the two. How do you know when to persist and when to let go? What are the things that are worth changing and which ones are better left alone?

There are 3 Things on my list that were the biggest source of frustration, stress and misery for me until I accepted the fact that they are out of my control.

Here are my conclusions:

1. You can’t change your past

This sounds pretty obvious and yet we still dwell on things that we have not accomplished, imagine all the vindictive and ironic lines that we could have said to someone two days after an argument and beat ourselves up for the silly mistakes that we have made. I know that I am not immune to this. However, the bottom line is that neither you, nor I can change the past. We can learn from it, cherish it or, at least, accept it. But there is no sense on dwelling on it!

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