“My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations.” Michael J. Fox
What do you think will happen next? When does it happen? What happens? What can you do about it?
Our survival-oriented brain is constantly taking in information from the environment via its various sensory systems and evaluating that information for its survival importance. There’s a distinct advantage in being able to react quickly – to avoid harm or discomfort, or to seize an opportunity for food and security. In the interests of staying alive for a little longer, we try to predict the future in order to get that ‘first mover advantage’.
What are the consequences of what you think may or may not happen? Perhaps you avoid harm and live another day; or maybe you are caught and suffer. How bad and for how long?
When there is fear and anxiety, our emotional limbic brain can impair the ability of the logical-thinking prefrontal cortex to think of solutions to our problems. When things are not in our control, that’s the last thing we want to happen.
Avoid worrying too much about potential future events and stop raking over the embers of painful emotions of past disappointments by asking yourself these questions:
• What am I expecting?
• What are the consequences?
• What is in my control?
• What can I influence (but not control)?
• What do I simply have to accept (because I can neither control nor influence them)?
Accept what is not in your control. Bad things happen and so do good things. It’s called ‘luck’. Don’t waste your emotional energy on them.
Photo by Tom Wilson on Unsplash