One of the most humbling experiences in life is when we are completely out of control.

Not like we are going crazy, but rather when we literally have no control over a situation.

It happens a lot of times. Maybe in a medical treatment. Maybe when something’s going wrong that we have no power to remedy. Or maybe it’s simply when we’re asleep.

Whatever the situation is, it’s one that most of us who try hard to control what’s going on in our lives find, well, troubling. And we probably should. Because one of the keys to making your life work well is to control what you can and take charge of your life.

But perhaps these situations are a good reminder that much of our lives is not in our control.

And maybe control is not a good way of looking at things. Perhaps what we need is not control, but resilience and flexibility and dynamism. Because the world can be crazy and things often happen that we did not anticipate and could not have foreseen, much less taken charge of.

So plan ahead. Think about what’s coming and try to make that work. And when something goes wrong, try to mitigate that wrong thing.

And when you can’t, don’t sweat it. Again, be flexible. Be resilient. Change what needs to be changed about your plans. When there’s a red light, consider that you might be going in the wrong direction. And when there’s a green light in your life, go with that green light.

And when you go with that green, you may discover that that’s where you’re supposed to be. And rejoice in that.