Empowered

To control is to exert total power in accordance with your will sans exception. In this reality there are things you can control. And there are things you cannot control.
The things you can control are: Desires, aversions, goals, beliefs, and essentially whatever is within yourself.
The things you cannot control are: Your body, others, institutions, situations, and essentially whatever is outside yourself.
Anyone whose taken a philosophy course knows this, however if it was learned merely to pass a test than you've shorted yourself. Doctors provide anesthetics to help their patients avoid intense pain, and we take painkillers to prevent or curb physical pain. Why would someone ignore then, the fact that there exist painkillers and anesthetics for emotional pain as well. I'm speaking outside of drugs and medicine. Psychologically we have the power to nullify emotional distress. It is NOT a facet of life, it is NOT inevitable and we do NOT have to live with it.
Exert the power you have over the things you can control to conform to the situations and the things you cannot control. Strip away the emotional context and view everything and every occurrence for what it is. Reality is all we have to cope with.
Take for example a glass figurine that my grandmother gave me on my wedding day. I kept it on the mantel in my home and one day it fell and shattered. The expected response to such a thing would be tears, devastation for the loss of my most cherished wedding gift, fear of what my grandmother would say as it meant a lot to her, and so one. This is wrong, gravity is not in my control. My grandmother's feelings are not in my control, and the fact that it broke and cannot be repaired is not in my control. So why would it be fair that I would feel pain over this? Reviewing the situation; a cluster of glass formed into a specific shape fell and became several clusters of glass no longer resembling what it once did, and that is all. What I can control is how I react to the situation. I can control how I feel about the situation. And I can control my desire for the situation to have happened differently. So I decide to react calmly and sweep up the broken pieces. I decide to feel okay with what happened because it is in the past anyways, and feeling any different would be nonsensical. And I decide to desire the situation to have happened exactly as it did. So the loss did not affect my day, it did not affect my mood, and I feel content with the way things unfolded.
My grandmother, however, was angry. But because I hold power over myself, I could chose to be understanding of her anger. You cannot control what other people do, or how they react, so it is much simpler to just accept it. I could chose feel comfortable with the yelling, and I could even go so far as to desire the reprimand. Emotionally I remained un-phased, and even thankful. How else could it have gone?
I could have been angry with myself for placing it on the mantel and I could have allowed myself to become emotionally irate over the loss of this figurine. I could have become defensive and in turn become angry with my grandmother for being angry with me. And I would have spent a week under more emotional burden and baggage than I deserved over this little glass sculpture no longer sitting or on my mantel. It would stew into a dread for the next time I saw my grandmother, and it would put a rift in our relationship permanently. This path seems a bit irrational, that I would place to much power to do harm into such a tiny glass sculpture seems ridiculous. But many people can see it happening no other way. And this is sad.
So many are bent on controlling the outside stimulus, when in fact their exerting energy over nothing. It is impossible to control whatever is outside of yourself, and attempting such things will only frustrate and depress you. Start controlling yourself. Get a hold of the reins on your psyche and steer your emotions around the things you cannot control. This is the only way to withstand the inevitable situations that will arise only to drain you emotionally. "Don't worry, be happy," Bob Marley knew this wasn't an unrealistic dream. And it's a simple as that. He didn't say, try to ignore things so you won’t worry so much, and strive to put yourself in situations that will make you happy... He said "Don’t worry," it’s a choice. And “Be happy,” its within your power to become happy regardless of anything else going on around you. Pain is unnecessary.