This Too Shall Pass — by Dan Lynn

By Dan Lynn

For many years big problems would really impact me. I wouldn't be able to sleep because I couldn't get the issue out of my mind.

As a result, I started to read a lot of books about the mind and how it works. What was really helpful to me was learning more about an old concept. "This too shall pass" comes from a Persian fable — a king asks for words that stay true in every moment, and is handed a ring engraved with that one line. Its meaning is impermanence: everything moves, and nothing, good or bad, stays.

That's why it works. In a hard moment, remembering it's temporary takes a lot of the worry out of it — you stop treating a passing problem like a permanent one, so you think clearly and act instead of spiral. It's really important to know that it cuts both ways: in other words, no low is as low and as permanent as you think and no high is as high and as permanent as you think. It helps you steady you in the lows and keeps you humble in the highs.

Almost nothing that feels like a crisis today will still be one a month from now. Most fires burn out on their own.