The time was 5:30 pm and Thomas Edison was just finishing up his dinner.

A man came rushing into his house with some urgent and terrible news to share: A massive explosion had erupted at Edison’s research and production campus and 10 buildings were engulfed in flames.

Edison rushed to the site, but unfortunately, the firefighters could not contain the fire.

And, at the age of 67, Edison stood there watching his life’s worth of work burn to ashes…

What would you have done had this incident happened to you?

Wail, scream, and rage in fury? Perhaps.

But when you really think about it—what can you do?

Here’s what Edison did.

According to a 1961 Reader's Digest article by Edison's son Charles:

Edison calmly walked over to him as he watched the fire destroy his dad's work. In a childlike voice, Edison told his 24-year-old son, "Go get your mother and all her friends. They'll never see a fire like this again." When Charles objected, Thomas Edison said, "It's all right. We've just got rid of a lot of rubbish."

Later, at the scene of the blaze, Edison was quoted in The New York Times as saying, "Although I am over 67 years old, I'll start all over again tomorrow." (Source).

Edison simply faced the obstacle and saw it for what it is: fate.

A sign of renewal. An opportunity to move away from the old and bring in the new. A chance to do things better. He’d lost $1,000,000 (about $23 million in today's dollars) that night but inspired by his attitude, Edison and his team went on to make almost $10,000,000 in revenue the following year.

That, my friends, demonstrates the power of your attitude.

And that is what Amor Fati is all about—the love of fate.

The Amor Fati Philosophy: A Love of Fate

Amor Fati is a mindset philosophy that was practiced by the Stoics.

It is best explained by Epictetus’ words:

“Do not seek for things to happen the way you want them to; rather, wish that what happens happen the way it happens: then you will be happy.”

It’s a mindset that promotes the acceptance of what is, which, in itself, reduces our capacity to struggle—because struggle is nothing more than the refusal to accept what is.

When you struggle, you resist, and, as per Carl Jung’s words, "that which we resist, persists."

Think about it: When you’re unhappy at your job, you begin to resist it. You resent it. You complain about how much you hate it. And this negative energy manifests itself into a struggle. You’re resisting what is because you aren’t accepting what is. And as long as you continue to resist the situation, the situation will continue to persist.

But if you accept it for what it is—if you practice Amor Fati—your attitude will change. You’ll say “Okay, my job sucks, and I want to change it. But I’m here and I’ve got to stop fighting this. Let me just do the bare minimum and focus my entire energy on looking for a new job.”

With this new attitude, you stopped resisting. You’ve accepted where you are and you’re OK with it. And now you’ve shifted your energy to focus on where you want to go: Your next job.

In essence, that’s why so many people struggle to change their lives. They focus on what they don’t want, rather than giving energy to what they do want. But that’s a topic for another discussion.

How Your Attitude Shapes Your Perspective

Amor Fati is a love of fate.

It’s to say that whatever happens, happens.

It’s to cradle the piety of Maktub (it is written).

It’s the conscious practice of acceptance as your life events unfold.

And it’s power lies in your attitude, which goes on to shape your perspective:

• If the fire burns, it burns. If the buildings are brought down to ashes, so be it. “We've just got rid of a lot of rubbish. I'll start all over again tomorrow.”

• My startup failed? That’s okay. I’ve learned so much from this experience and now I’m more equipped to succeed in my next venture.

• My relationship is falling apart? That’s okay. To be honest, I don’t believe this is the right relationship for me.

• I just got laid off from that job I so hated but was too afraid to quit? Good. I finally have a few months to relax, reflect, and invest some time in building that project I had always wanted to start but never had time for.

We will always be faced with obstacles in life. Some will be easy to maneuver. Others will be heart-wrenching and painful. That’s not something we can control. What we can control is our attitude toward these obstacles.

It’s our attitude that goes on to shape our perspective. And perspective is everything.

Amor Fati is a mindset you should embrace as it helps you make the best out of anything that happens to you in life. It empowers you to cultivate an attitude of acceptance. It helps you control and regulate your response to life’s good and bad events.

You end up taking each moment and embracing it for what it is:

Just another moment in my life. It’s here. It’s in the now. And it will pass. How it affects me is how I choose to respond to it… I can’t choose what happens to me, but I can choose how to respond.

What Matters to You

Obstacles are not there to stop us from achieving our goals. They’re not there to make our life miserable. There is a lesson in every obstacle, but it’s up to us to see it.

I find that obstacles are there to show us how badly we truly want something. It’s what author Randy Paush wrote in The Last Lecture:

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”

So when you face a brick wall, stand in front of it with grace. See it as a challenge, not an obstacle. See it as a path you must forge, a door you must open, not a barricade that’s trying to stop you.

Change your attitude, it can change your life.

And always remember:

Amor Fati—a love of fate.