One of the most delightful things about being human is our ability to imagine, vision and dream. Highly effective people are masterful at determining outcomes, making plans and setting in motion events that produce the desired result. And this is a wonderful skill, until it becomes a predator to ones happiness.
Case in point. About a week ago, I find myself crying. I’ve just learned that the future I invited in my head wasn’t going to happen. Logistically, it was simply improbable. And I was not taking the news well.
After contemplation, I realized that I had made the whole thing up. I had imagined the outcome I wanted – in wonderful detail – and I was the one who choose to be upset, sad and disappointed that it wasn’t going to occur. On further investigation, it is easy to see how absurd it all was.
I quickly came to terms with:
1. I made it up. I could make up another outcome that interests me.
2. To be sad about a fabrication of the imagination is, well, hilarious.
3. I forgot that I have no idea what the future holds, nor will I ever. I am not psychic.
4. Being sad isn’t me. It’s a construct of my ego that assesses, judges and decides what I should be happy or sad about (when I let it run the show, that is).
So, here are my questions for you:
What are you bummed, pissed, sad, concerned, upset or just pain dissatisfied about in life? Who made it up? Who is choosing to experience those emotions? And ultimately, can you make up a different future that lights you up, instead of drags you down?
After I was done grieving my made up future, a weight was lifted, and I laughed harder than I had in a while. What a relief to remember that one of our greatest attributes – our imagination – can be formed, crafted and bent at will into ideas that bring us profound joy. What a gift.
Thank you DK.
