Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thoughts, mostly obvious, occasionally profound, and sometimes disconcerting
As I promised in an earlier post, I will jot down some of the thoughts and questions that have been swirling around in my mind, and the conclusions i have chosen to arrive at. Many of them are so obvious that it embarrasses me to have to put them down, but knowing they are available to anyone who has any interest to read, keeps me a little bit more accountable than if they existed only in my mind.
Conclusion #1
Some things in life can be controlled, others cannot
"Well, duh!?"
I hear ya.
But the complication comes with not knowing which things are in which category. Eat healthy you say? All right then, let's buy us lots of fresh veggies and fruits. But then do I know if pesticides have been sprayed on those beautiful green leaves, and whether the brightly colored oranges have been picked when they were light green and kept so long that there is hardly any vitamin C left?
Exercise to lose weight, you say? Sure thing. Pull on the sneakers and strap on the willpower. But as you decrease food intake and increase energy output, your metabolic rate starts to do through a complicated series of events to compensate.
Write well and learn the publishing process and maximize your chances of getting published? You fill in the blanks.
So the only way to live based on this conclusion is: approach every task as if I have full control but think about outcome with the understanding that I actually have none.
And try to convince my emotions that it is just fine.
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5 comments:
Ah, yes, tough quote. There's many things we don't really have control over and it's frustrating. Hope all is going okay for you.
but think about outcome with the understanding that I actually have none.
Yeah. And thus we have the end of anything remotely resembling Zen, and the beginning of the "Aaarrrrgh!" cycle.
Michelle: thanks for your concern. Things are actually going rather well, considering. And also, the post you read wasn't a complete one...I scheduled it to post but forgot to finish writing it!
Tanita: that made me laugh...the beginning of the "Aaaarrrrgh!" cycle!
I've come to the conclusion that the only thing I REALLY have control over is my reaction to whatever it is that I thought I had control over but don't. So I think your idea of convincing your emotions that it's just fine is right on.
You know, the strange thing is, I've actually been thinking a lot about reactions, and have come to the conclusion that I have no control even over that. What I mean is, when I hear of someone self-absorbed and mean-spirited getting yet more good things in life, I feel jealousy and anger at the unfairness of life.
What I CAN control, is what to do with those reactions; ie don't indulge them, think about something else, sing lalala really loud in my mind.
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