It's rather ironic that while most of us have trouble grasping the present or seizing this moment, we concurrently seem to think we can understand the future. In fact, far too many of us focus most of our attention on what may come and neglect what is happening right now. The few who don't seem to fixate solely on the past!
I'm not writing this as some armchair pop psychologist; I happen to be an acclaimed professional worrywart. If there is something to be even the slightest bit anxious or concerned about, I'm all over it like a swarm of insects on flypaper. I've been known to fret about the most nonsensical things and to possess the innate ability to work myself up into a frenzy over events that, when they occur, are so far removed from my anxious-ridden visions that it can be quite hilarious.
Anyhow, how many times has someone asked you, What would you do/say/feel if X happened? It could be something apparently positive like "win 10 million dollars" or something apparently negative like "lose the ability to move your arms and legs". How often do you or I say, "If THAT happened, I'd do x, y & z!"
A lot of the time we actually believe what we say! We KNOW who we are. We KNOW how we would react.
Bull.
We're actually completely clueless. We're basing our subjective opinion on where we are now. If x, y or z came to pass, we'd be in a different place.
Intuitively, most of us know this. And we know this because of past examples. In previous situations we may have known we'd do y when z happened, but, when it actually does happen, we choose j and j wasn't even known to us when we made our previous prognostication.
This is the whole problem with thinking we can know today how we will react to stimuli tomorrow. We're unable to factor in knowledge we don't currently possess or beliefs we don't currently hold. We act as if our being is static in a world in which everything is anything but.
I'm not writing this as some armchair pop psychologist; I happen to be an acclaimed professional worrywart. If there is something to be even the slightest bit anxious or concerned about, I'm all over it like a swarm of insects on flypaper. I've been known to fret about the most nonsensical things and to possess the innate ability to work myself up into a frenzy over events that, when they occur, are so far removed from my anxious-ridden visions that it can be quite hilarious.
Anyhow, how many times has someone asked you, What would you do/say/feel if X happened? It could be something apparently positive like "win 10 million dollars" or something apparently negative like "lose the ability to move your arms and legs". How often do you or I say, "If THAT happened, I'd do x, y & z!"
A lot of the time we actually believe what we say! We KNOW who we are. We KNOW how we would react.
Bull.
We're actually completely clueless. We're basing our subjective opinion on where we are now. If x, y or z came to pass, we'd be in a different place.
Intuitively, most of us know this. And we know this because of past examples. In previous situations we may have known we'd do y when z happened, but, when it actually does happen, we choose j and j wasn't even known to us when we made our previous prognostication.
This is the whole problem with thinking we can know today how we will react to stimuli tomorrow. We're unable to factor in knowledge we don't currently possess or beliefs we don't currently hold. We act as if our being is static in a world in which everything is anything but.
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