Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.

Section VIII of the Enchiridion asks for a demanding adjustment of desire: stop requiring events to follow a private script. In Epictetus's Stoic teaching, attention belongs especially to the judgments and choices available to us. The line does not promise that whatever happens will be pleasant. Its challenge is to meet the actual event rather than continue arguing with an unavailable version of it.

Acceptance here can be understood as the beginning of a response. Rain has arrived; now the plans can change. The train has gone; now another route can be found. Wishing the fact away uses time without altering it. This is different from approving every circumstance or abandoning efforts to improve one. Recognizing the situation accurately is often what allows useful action to begin, including action that changes what happens next.

The calico on the dry window bench has an excellent arrangement with the weather. Outside is rain; inside is a cushion. We cannot give the cat credit for a theory of fate, but the picture catches the comic economy of adjusting to conditions. The afternoon does not have to obey the original plan to contain something worth enjoying. Sometimes the revised itinerary is simply a better seat beside the window.