Do you know? Do you know for sure? Are you certain? Why are you so certain? Why do you need to feel that you know everything? Why does that comfort you? The human mind is always looking to solve problems. This is not always a bad thing. Problem solving is a valuable human skill, as long as it is done correctly. The problem with that is that we all have our own personal biases. Thus, it becomes extremely important for us to remember that something that is fact in the present, or that was once fact in the past, may very well not be in the future. Yet, instead of recognizing that we live in a chaotic, unpredictable and often times dangerous world, we choose to lie to ourselves in order to soothe anxiety. But, like fear, anxiety can be quite useful. It creates a sense of urgency about emergencies that is currently lacking in this nation because of years of focusing on being happy twenty four hours a day. Anxiety can inform us that we are making poor decisions or that we need to make improvements to prior decisions. Unfortunately, we are taught at a young age that we must be able to predict the future and all of its ills, that we should go into every situation knowing what the outcomes will be. This is folly. You cannot know everything, no matter how well you plan for it. How many of you predicted the current pandemic we are in? How many predicted the violent response from anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers? How many predicted that a third of the nation would descend into madness? How many predicted the volatile housing market? The increase in crime? The destabilization of society? None of us, aside from a few lucky guesses here and there of course. This does not mean that we should give up on trying to know things. It means that we should recognize our biases, that we should look before we leap and that we should recognize our decision making skills are not perfect. If we approach problems in a way that is not based on the presumption that we know everything like some god or deity, then we can make more informed human decisions about the present, which is all that really matters, and leave the problems of the future to those who are able to enjoy it. Photo Credit: Jenni Jones. Sound credit: Bensound.com