Do you suffer from discrepancy syndrome?

Wait! You’ve never heard of it?

I’m surprised that you haven’t because it’s so common.

Discrepancy syndrome is when you wish something is different than it really is.

You may have heard of it by its other names, anger and frustration.

Every incident of anger and frustration is caused by wishing that the situation at hand is different than it really is.

The good news about discrepancy syndrome is that there is a cure; the bad news is that you have to cure yourself.

You have to decide how long you will continue to dwell in the moments of discrepancy that are occurring or that have passed.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t experience anger or frustration because they can both be great self-motivators for change.

But for how long?

There’s a great Buddhist saying that the first arrow causes the pain but then we choose to shoot ourselves with a second arrow, and this causes the suffering, which is optional.

So the next time you find yourself angry or frustrated see if you can learn to separate how you feel from what is occurring. Who knows? You might just cure yourself of discrepancy syndrome.