Early this morning I got upset on my way to work. It’s one of those days when all is well until you realize that someone took advantage of you (I hate being short-changed!). If you’re one of my colleagues, you’ve heard several stories about my bus-ride horrors and how I dealt with such situations. This morning, instead of confronting the issue, I let it pass. Little did I know that by not doing anything about it would trouble me a few minutes later!
When I caught myself being upset over something petty, I was reminded of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s closing words in his book The Black Swan:
I am sometimes taken aback by how people can have a miserable day or get angry because they feel cheated by a bad meal, cold coffee, a social rebuff, or a rude reception…We are quick to forget that just being alive is an extraordinary piece of good luck, a remote event, a chance occurrence of monstrous proportions.
Imagine a speck of dust next to a planet next to a planet a billion times the size of the earth. The speck of dust represents the odds in favor of your being born; the huge planet would be the odds against it. So stop sweating the small stuff. Don’t be like the ingrate who got a castle as a present and worried about the mildew in the bathroom. Stop looking the gift horse in the mouth --remember that you are a Black Swan…
Indeed, when you think about it, our very existence is a miracle in the grand scheme of things. The many things I ought to be thankful for--the countless daily blessings that sustain life--are sometimes overshadowed by everyday disappointments and ill feelings; which is why the challenge for me now is to discipline the mind by focusing on happy thoughts, blessings and grace-full moments.
