#404 – What are you looking for in "being realistic?"

Uncertainty is difficult to handle. The markets go haywire, supply-chain managers freak out, baseball coaches lose their cool.

And your Ego? It can't handle it.

Will your son get out of jail on Tuesday? Will you be able to move to Portugal on the planned date? How long will the AI gig continue to provide you with a steady income?

It needs something, an anchor in what it purports is "reality." It pushes you to "be realistic" (code for: prepare for the worst-case scenario, to soften the disappointment).

Seeing some logic to this, you scrape your mind for "potential things that can happen that I won't like." After all, a forewarned woman is worth two, we say in Spain.

Right. Only, that logic is flawed. Uncertainty means that things have yet to materialize, and, as such, they could go either way. So, why suffer in anticipation for something that may never come to pass?

My knowledge of the world may tell me that one scenario is more likely than another one; or that something isn't at all probable.

But what do I know? My source of information is a speck of data of the gazillion events that have happened in the universe since its beginning––what makes me think my skewed, narrow-minded predictions are reliable?

So, you're going to invent crazy possibilities like some little green creatures appearing in the courtroom while your son's shackles magically evaporate?

No. The alternative is to relax in what's in front of me, here and now. And let tomorrow and the day after tomorrow come, while relaxing in each moment.

To stay open to anything that may happen, knowing that I'll be able to handle it, once it becomes my present.

Where in your life will you stop hiding in "being realistic?"

Love,

Carolina