Evidence

I made a mistake at work; it was crushing. I communicated a number three times too small in a bad way. The data was important and was already widely shared. I dreaded the correction tour. 

That evening, I went to load an enormous case of water from Costco into my trunk for an event the next day. I stepped into the garage, and my toes dragged over the brick threshold. My whole foot rolled underneath me, and my leg folded under my body as I collapsed into a heap. Don't worry, the water was safe. Its fall was cushioned by the dummy on the ground. 

For the same event, I needed to handwrite notes. I used a fancy ink which clogged my pen. So, I spent a fair amount of time disassembling, cleaning, reassembling, and re-inking the pen. As I started to write the next note, the pen leaked, and ink got all over everything. 

My day was so unlucky it was contagious. My son and his friends were walking home from the park. It was dark, and my son chased his friend down the street. His friend looked back to see if he was gaining ground. As he turned back in the direction he was running, a pole abruptly stopped his face from moving. 

What had I done to earn this terrible day? I didn’t recall a broken mirror or walking under ladders. I suppose the only thing these events really shared in common was their timestamps. Perhaps each might have been avoided with more attentiveness, but they weren’t necessarily tied to each other. One didn’t even happen to me personally. 

The brain is really good at finding patterns. It makes assumptions about experiences to find any pattern it can. Some of these patterns make the world seem stacked against me. If I am depressed, the pattern might even convince me I deserve it. Most of the time, a “series of events” isn’t really a series. They are distinct events that happened to occur near each other. 

What problems might I avoid by being more alert? Do I see a real pattern, or is it just a coincidence? Are my feelings towards this experience helpful? If not, can I dismiss them? 

Be curious, be kind, be whole, do good things.