Control
Grymt, I agree and I don't. For sure, I have no control over anything *aside from* my own actions and reactions. To the extent I have control over those, anyhow. I can't control that I will experience feelings, nor that there is a quarantine or whether my job is axed. I can't control that my sponsor may not like me much or maybe she does. I can't control whether eldest winds up in a trash heap one day because she has a tendency to wander the streets when she gets blackout drunk. I can't control any of this.
...But I *absolutely can* control what I put in my body, how I perceive myself, how I foster connections. This is the control I'm talking about. I *definitely* can remind myself on a regular basis that I'm enough, simply by being. I can control that I won't let other people's opinions of me define me. I can control understanding that I can barely define myself. Because I'm not the same now as I was when I started typing this post.
...Everything changes continually. I can "Therefore, develop a faith in the process of equanimously observing the continually changing phenomena..." I've always pretty much loved change while observing that most people have little tolerance for it.
...After all, doesn't practicing not being in control require some degree of self-control? Of course it does!