Anyone who has been involved in engineering knows that Murphy (of the Murphy's law fame) was an optimist when he said, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong!"

Why was he an optimist? Nine times out of then thing go wrong at the worst possible time, or multiple failures happen at the same time when the system had those fail safe redundancies built in except for the exact scenario which happens in the real world.

Non-engineers say about this S*** happens!

The Buddha said about it: "Life is suffering."

As a clinical hypnotherapist I give seminars on various topics especially weight management. I always record the seminars I give (video or at least audio) and study them later on to see what improvements I can make next time.

Recently I gave a lecture on hypnosis to some Ph.D. students and I audio recorded it on a new digital recorder. Since it was new I still don't know how to use it. One day before I had time to review the recording I noticed that it had disappeared.

Presumably I had accidentally erased it. So S*** happens but it does not mean that one would not feel disappointed.

The master's best friend had died and the master was crying.

A novice asked, "Master, isn't it true that all life is an illusion?"

The master replied, "Yes, it is true. All life is indeed illusory."

The novice continued, "Master, isn't it true that life and death are only illusions."

Once more the master affirmed the novices statement while crying.

The novice smiled (in victory) and shouted,  "Then why are you crying?"

The master smiled gently and said softly, "My friend has died. I miss him. I'm sad. I', crying."

Have you ever been to a seminar where they have drawings for free gifts. The gifts are given as incentive to return on time or stay until the end. The rule is:

"You must be present to win."

It is the same way with life. You must be present to win. The master was crying because he felt sad. The next day he was no longer crying. He did not spend all his time regretting the past or worrying about the future.

There's a way in Zen and psychology that the best way to change things is through acceptance....

So today I was using the audio recorder again and remembered the missing lecture. At first I was disturbed again. Then I remembered the idea that you can always have peace of mind through acceptance.

As soon as I accepted the situation I calmed down and smiled. I then listened to ideas I had recorded on a previous walk for articles to write. By now I had fully accepted the loss. So I pressed a button and the missing recording returned.

The recorder (being digital) has different foldres and somehow the folder had changed. What was important lesson for me was that as soon as I let go and relaxed, somehow my unconscious mind found the correct solution.