Shakespeare's Hamlet - Read it if you've had a sudden change in your life

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
That Flesh is heir to?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_be,_or_not_to_be

Hamlet experiences a deep, sudden change in the direction of his life. What does he do? He works on his emotional process. He defines himself. He takes responsibility for who he is and who he is going to be. 

What - Change, unplanned, unanticipated, unwanted - Hamlet calls "The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune...a Sea of troubles...The Heart-ache...the thousand Natural shocks That Flesh is heir to...

So What - Here and now I have to decide how I will handle change.

Now what - These are Hamlet's metaphors for change; what are yours? Write a poem, create a dialogue, do whatever creative things you can do to express your thoughts in new metaphors. The next step is to discard the metaphors you've created and push on, beyond settled ways of thinking to new ground and when you've done that you'll find a new way of handling your life.

I'll share from my own experience. I read Nathaniel Branden's, Honoring the Self. P. 38-9 (Kindle version) he says, 

p. 38 “I suggested they were being too hard on themselves...I had not yet discovered the functional utility of their self-condemnation, within the context of their private model of self-in-the-world.

Slowly I began to realize the survival value of their self-blame.”

I parsed that for myself using my "what, so what, now what" approach, spending a few minutes answering each of those questions: for example, "What is the functional utility of my self-condemnation", etc.

Here's where I shook out..

I’m no longer living in a context where self-condemnation helps. I live in a context where I define the “freedom within limits” that I’m willing to tolerate and which will yield the highest and best use of my self for the purpose of “thriving”.  This is honoring my self.

Honoring my self vs. Self-condemnation.

There is no one anywhere I know of that will continue to benefit from any effort I put forth toward self-condemnation. I believe there are many who will benefit from my efforts to define the freedom with limits that I’m willing to tolerate yielding the highest and best use of my self for the purpose of my thriving. This is honoring my self.

hum...I like where things have turned out and as Branden suggests, I repeat to myself... "Right now I am choosing

to define the freedom with limits that I’m willing to tolerate yielding the highest and best use of my self for the purpose of my thriving. And I take responsibility for this."