Life happens — literally every second. What we make of it is entirely up to us.
We live in a fast-moving world, and we grow up learning to categorise things as either good or bad. It’s useful: it helps us navigate life quickly and make much-needed decisions based on recognisable patterns.
Imagine if we had to evaluate things from scratch every time something similar happened — we’d never know what to do.
A salary increase — good. A punctured tyre — bad.
Pattern recognition is a useful skill — and a largely beneficial one. But it can also stop us from seeing past the surface of the events in our lives.
I like to revisit the following chinese parable from time to time — a reminder that things are never inherently good or bad.
Maybe So. Maybe Not.
A farmer and his son had a beloved horse who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbors exclaimed, “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”
A few days later, the horse returned home, leading a few wild horses back to the farm as well. The neighbors shouted out, “Your horse has returned, and brought several horses home with him. What great luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”
Later that week, the farmer’s son was trying to ride one of the horses and she threw him to the ground, breaking his leg. The neighbors cried, “Your son broke his leg, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”
A few weeks later, soldiers from the national army marched through town, recruiting all boys for the army. They did not take the farmer’s son, because he had a broken leg. The neighbors shouted, “Your boy is spared, what tremendous luck!” To which the farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
You never really know whether something will turn out to be good or bad: don’t assume.