On control

[trix]

On Control:

Control is an illusion.  That statement has been made by many a wise man.  But what many fail to realize, is that not only is it an illusion, it's a HARMFUL fallacy.  When one seeks to control events with too much fervor, they leave themselves vulnerable to chance tipping one domino in the wrong direction and ruining all of the careful planning and control they've attempted.  But, if instead of seeking to control and plan every minute detail, that person PLANS on having little control over the outcome or details, and remains flexible to whatever chance brings, that person is not surprised, and ready, for any outcome that DOES happen, rather than only being ready to handle one single outcome that MIGHT happen.

This is the heart of the problem.  A person can seek to control every aspect of something, and increase the CHANCE of one specific desired outcome, or, one can put a little effort into skewing the odds in their favor and then sit back and take what they get with a smile.

The secret to being a great poker player is not to always try and have the best hand possible, but rather to learn how to play any random hand one might get most effectively.  To an expert poker player, the cards they hold in their hand don't matter nearly as much as how the hand is played.

Everything is a dice roll in this life.  Every person you meet, every situation, every effort, every action.  It's all rolling the dice.  And if you roll the dice enough times, eventually, you WILL hit the number you want.  Chaos is the only thing that is truly fair, as it will work in your favor roughly half the time.  What makes it truly beautiful is when, like any good poker player, you come to realize this fact and use it to your advantage, minimizing the negatives when it rolls against you, and maximizing the benefits when it rolls in your favor.

None of this has anything to do with worry.  Worry, fear, stress, these things have no effect, whatsoever, on chaos.  Generally, people do not enjoy these feelings.  Yet, though the feelings serve no purpose, people spend crazy amounts of time and effort experiencing them.  Why?  Why worry so much about a bad thing that could happen, that your ears bleed and/or you get headaches and/or can't sleep?  Especially if doing so does not help, AT ALL, to avoid the thing you are afraid of?  Further, the consequences of too much worry can often have a NEGATIVE influence, and make bad things more likely to happen.  If you worry so much about giving a speech that you can't sleep at all the night before, the speech you're so worried about will SUFFER because you worried so much.  Worse still, is if the bad thing you worry so much about does not actually happen, you have now suffered FOR NO REASON.  In fact, even if it does happen, the extra suffering you went through BEFORE it happened was STILL FOR NO REASON.

LET IT GO.  FEAR, DOUBT, WORRY, these things do not own you.  They do not help you.  You CAN live without them... if you want to.

Yes, you may roll snake eyes ten times in a row before a single perfect 20, and you may suffer for it, but as long as you keep rolling, and unless you are dead you don't really have a choice, you WILL hit a favorable roll eventually.  Because chaos is the only thing that is truly fair.

Or kill me.

[trix]

I realize I'm preaching to the choir here, this was actually intended towards a friend of mine.  Just archiving it here for later retrieval and in case one of you finds it interesting.

[Icey]

I might have to give this to friends of mine.

[The Wizard Joseph]

   Not too shabby Trix!