Euripides once said that what is expected does not come true because it is the unexpected that can really change our lives, however, learning to face the unforeseen, giving way to what is beyond our control, requires above all a receptive heart. and an open mind, because only then can we have good opportunities to “move forward. “
What sociologists or even economic researchers like writer Nassim Nicholas Taleb always say is that people act as if they can predict what will happen tomorrow, in the future and even next week Our serene ignorance, or rather our exaggerated need to think we have everything under control, means that we often don’t know how to react when , all of a sudden, something happens that we didn’t expect.
“Waiting for the unexpected is a sign of a deeply contemporary spirit. “Oscar Wilde?
This behavior or this primordial need is explained by a very simple principle: our brain needs to feel that it has everything under control. He doesn’t care if we’re not happy, he just wants us to “survive. “, anything that enters the border of the unexpected or in the region of the unexpected, will interpret it as a threat or as the echo of a battalion that sees a very specific flag: that of danger.
In fact, a very concrete reality worth mentioning is that the scariest, most inseurgent and empty people develop a greater need for control over themselves and others, every controlling person, who tries to dominate the uncontrollable and leaves no room for the unexpected or improvisation, is hopelessly condemned to the abyss of discontent and unhappiness.
Just teach a baby something unexpected to get their attention. Their eyes are fascinated by anything out of the ordinary, something that is brightly colored and defies logic or gravity.
They have a natural and instinctive ability to accept all the unpredictable and surprising things about their environment, but we, with our adult glasses and rational filters, have lost that capacity that stimulates learning so much.
In fact, as a John Hopkins University study by psychologist Aimée Stahl explains, babies 9 to 11 months old are attracted to stimuli that seem to have no logic. A curious experiment was conducted with a group of babies where they were shown two types of games: one that seemed to go through the walls (by optical effect) and the other that crashed into the wall, returned to them and fell to the ground.
Surprising as it may seem, the babies were more interested in the game than seemed to do something impossible: cross the wall. Experts concluded with these tests that young children are programmed to take advantage of the unexpected, however, as we grow up, any unexpected. Is it often interpreted as beyond our control and can therefore be dangerous?
When people face a new situation for which they didn’t have a preset plan, they often experience anxiety and stress, rather than getting caught up in scary nets, become a child again, and accept how positive everything unexpected can bring. We?
Leave the door of your heart ajar so that from time to time new breezes arrive, cheerful and restless, that surely will not make you suffer, give yourself some space in your life for the unpredictable, for what you do not expect, what is not on your agenda, which is far from your goals. Learning to deal with unforeseen events is critical because the unexpected can be much more interesting than you think. Great explorers discovered entire continents by chance, and many well-known personalities made the best contributions. to us under the influence of mistakes that became great successes.
At a conference for recent Stanford University graduates, Steve Jobs said life was nothing more than learning to “connect the dots. Many of these unexpected things that happen throughout our lives take on real meaning when we see them in perspective. “
For example, you may not like your current work, but you’ve found in it a good friendship that, in turn, has thrown you into a love that you love, that enriches you emotionally and intellectually to the point of wanting to dedicate yourself to it. you do your own business and you also know the love of your life.
Almost without realizing it, one thing can lead us to the other and we jump from stone to stone in this river without limits of our existence, however, to appreciate the beauty and opportunity of each of these points, we must be receptive to magical intrigue. that fate presents to us every day and we must do so through an open and positive attitude, because understanding the importance of learning to handle unforeseen circumstances and expecting the unexpected with an awake mind creates more opportunities for happiness.