A Change of Attitude
Nature is clear on the attitudes we should adopt.
It helps a great deal in life if we can formulate appropriate attitudes toward things. Here are several attitude adjustments that might help you make more sense of life; however, please keep these adjustments to yourself. We are reluctant to admit what we are because it contradicts religious and spiritual beliefs and the views of the oppressed.
Suffering is Okay
You will suffer. It's structural and cannot be avoided. A Buddhist might say all is suffering, and I'm inclined to agree. Our bodies are suffering machines, our psyches are suffering machines, and so is our desire nature. Efforts to avoid suffering are nothing less than efforts to avoid our essential nature. The next time you feel sad, angry, depressed, envious, or melancholy, indulge in these emotions instead of trying to run away from them. An attitude that sees suffering as legitimate and quite natural will avoid strenuous efforts to make things okay; they will never be okay.
The expectation that life should be a constant stream of pleasure is the victory of hope over experience. So, please don’t consider your suffering, whether it be physical or emotional, as something unusual; you are meant to suffer. Suffering is not pathological; pretending to be happy is pathological.
Conflict is Normal
Each of us is primarily concerned with our survival and reproductive drives. Millions of people, each striving to maximize their own advantage, will inevitably create friction, resulting in a situation where life becomes essentially a competition between all. People cooperate, but only if they receive compensation or if it affects their genetic heritage. If given the opportunity, people will naturally resort to lying, cheating, and theft. Given the structural dynamics of life on Earth, constant conflict is a natural state, and no amount of reasoning can change this. Do not view conflict, lies, and generally shoddy behavior as the exception; they are the norm and the inherent nature of life.
One of the best treatments of the nature of conflict is to be found in “The Strategy of Conflict”, a game-theoretic treatment by Schelling.