Life is strange and unpredictable. Marcus Aurelius was used to saying: “We are not given to live but the present, the rest is a past life or life that is yet to come and, therefore, uncertain and unpredictable”.
Life is full of uncertainties, surprises, and this is its beauty, because if the future is open, if our destiny is not already written, then there is freedom. Freedom to grow or not to grow. An intelligent man and woman are always open to uncertainty. Choosing to remain uncertain is courage. Choosing to remain uncertain is faith.
What is needed is understanding, not certainties. So let’s not call it uncertainty, let’s call it wonder. Let’s not call it insecurity, let’s call it freedom.
Our society is largely structured on values that favor materialism, logic, and objectivity. It is as if somehow we wish to keep every aspect of our life under strict control to get the maximum benefit from it at all times. Believing in randomness is not something everyone accepts easily, because it a way of losing control of things and letting chance and chaos rule everyday life.
In reality, everyday life is not based on these concepts. The human being must also adapt to unpredictable things, to the fact that one does not always achieve what he desires or that he cannot always control others.
We set goals, draw up an action plan to achieve them, then we must be good at achieving them in the shortest possible time. But if it were that easy, we would all make our dreams come true, but the reality is quite different. Destiny (or call it whatever you want) often leads us to do something unexpected, to find ourselves on a path that we had not planned and which we had not thought about minimally. I challenge anyone not to have known a person who has studied to practice a profession that he does not then practice, for one reason or another. Yet often they discover themselves even happier than they ever imagined.
These people have learned on their own skin how important it is to know how to take life as it comes, accepting the vicissitudes and the unexpected in the same way in which one celebrates one’s successes. I like to imagine these people as the branches of a tree shaken by the wind of a storm. If the branches in question were rigid, the bursts of air would break them over time. Instead, with their being flexible, they undergo, bend, shake, but hardly break.
They are people who, perhaps in pain, have understood the true meaning of “taking the wheel of one’s life”, managing it according to the variations of the route.
Terms such as oscillation, flexibility, malleability must necessarily enter our vocabulary if we are to live a peaceful life.
We must use tenacity and determination to defend ourselves, to keep ourselves safe when we are under attack. But then we must learn to let ourselves be lulled by the water, the wind, and relax a little more, savoring the good things we take for granted too often. Life is strange and unpredictable and preparing for any eventuality must become our strength, to face it in the best way.
Instead of asking ourselves why this or that happened to us, we should ask ourselves if it has a purpose and then draw a good lesson and good reflection from it.
We must not oppose the circumstances in which we find ourselves and we observe life from the glass of learning without evaluating things as very good or very bad. All of life must be lived, they are all moments that have their own subtle meaning.
In conclusion, the key is to adopt as a mantra a phrase known as the serenity prayer :
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
—Reinhold Niebuhr
Are you ready to accept randomness?
Your comment on being quite happy doing something else that what one studied for, Aldo, could be “upped” with living happily in spite of not having turned whatever kinds of plans into reality.
If we let the successful implementation of a plan be the yardstick against we measure whether we “deserve” to be happy or not, we might neither enjoy nor appreciate what we already have achieved.
Truly grateful for your input and insight. I always look forward to your feedback.
I love to learn and I enjoy people that share their knowledge and insights.
First of all thank you for avel read and for the always enriching comment.
I really set out to stimulate considerations that are very close to those you summarize.
The unpredictability gives us the possibility / freedom to choose how to behave. This makes us understand that only thanks to the ability to adapt (which we should develop) can we face what we cannot change and perhaps also find the ability to appreciate its positive aspects or make it pleasefull for ourselves.
However, we will have learned something new that will help us better understand what happens or can happen around us.
A very cordial greeting
There are many interesting ideas in your post, Aldo. It is a post that makes the reader think.
One idea is “Life is full of uncertainties, surprises, and this is its beauty, because if the future is open, if our destiny is not already written, then there is freedom. Freedom to grow or not to grow.
This is an interesting synchronicity for my post today on BIZCATALYST on “The Emergence of New Paradoxes” highlights the paradox that “The paradox of us asking for growth and we reject the ideas that open paths for growth”.
A second idea in your post is “The human being must also adapt to unpredictable things, to the fact that one does not always achieve what he desires or that he cannot always control others”.
This is the value of varied experiences and learning from them. If we keep doing the familiar there shall be no surprises and life becomes dull.
This ties up nicely with a later thought that you shared in the post. “.Instead of asking ourselves why this or that happened to us, we should ask ourselves if it has a purpose and then draw a good lesson and good reflection from it”.
Absolutely, and addressing the right questions is the first step to be on the right track.
Great read this post is.