Nietzsche said, “My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wasn’t nothing to be different, not forwarded, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it…. but love it.”
Q: How can you cheerfully accept and love ‘bad’ circumstances without coming across annoyingly optimistic, naive, or in denial?
Discuss the Art of Acquiescence… accepting certain things that we are unable to change and seeing constraints as guides.
Q: When do you know when you should try to change something vs when you should accept it?
Consider Abraham Lincoln’s life full of tragedy and setbacks and his “This too shall pass” mentality.
Q: When has there been something that seemed like it would never end, that has? Where is the value in knowing the ephemeral nature of all things?
Challenge: Finding gratitude in challenges
Write about a challenging experience and find ways that it has altered your course or otherwise how you can be grateful for it in hindsight. Write out ten or more things you are grateful for now coming as a result from those experiences and where they have led your life.
Next, use that gratitude to experience amor fati from the beginning next time something happens to you. Harness your future self’s wisdom who sees the whole picture and borrow that happiness to feel like you wouldn’t change anything about what has happened.