Posts Tagged ‘changing’

Adjusting to the changing economic seasons

March 29, 2012
Adjusting to the changing economic seasons
(The video is almost entirely just an audio reading of the below text, so you won’t miss anything by hitting play and
just scrolling down along with the presentation.)
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Winter changes to spring, which changes to summer, and so on. However, a child may only learn of the changing seasons after the pattern repeats for a few years. Until then, the changing of seasons is surprising, fascinating, and mysterious.

So, naturally, the surprised child is curious and wonders “What is happening? Who is to blame for this? How do we fix it?”

Right? Didn’t you as a child consider the changing of seasons a problem? Didn’t you reject the changing of seasons as “wrong,” a violation of the way things should be, a ruining of the prior season? Summer is the ruining of spring, right?

Consider that for the changing of the seasons to be experienced as a problem, the child must accept a model of reality as more important than reality itself, thus rejecting reality. That is how the child makes reality into a problem.

Problems, of course, may inspire us to solve them, to fix them. How do we fix the problem of reality? How do we fix the reality of the

Reality isn't always real

Reality isn't always real (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

changing seasons and make our favorite season last forever to fit our model? Further, what do we do about all of the crazy people who have a different favorite season than us… and are struggling to make that other season (the wrong one!) last forever?

Well, after we pursue such questions and explore various prospective fixes, reality tends to remain persistently other than however we may have supposed that it should be. Oh, sure, our favorite season may eventually return, but soon it changes again!

So, in order to reject the frustration of this fixation on making reality unreal (ideal), the child may wonder who is to blame for the problem of reality. Specific to this essay, who is to blame for the reality of changing economic seasons?

Well, what if no one is to blame? What if reality is actually an entirely valid development?

Confusion is resistance. The interaction between an unconscious model and a reality that does not fit that unconscious model is confusion. Confusion is the ongoing resisting of reality by rejecting it in favor of an unconscious model.

The simple reality is… that the model and the reality do not match. We can say that the reality does not fit the model, but we can also say that the model does not fit the reality.

Confusion is something we do. By rejecting reality for a model that does not match reality, we produce confusion for ourselves. It works every time.


So, consider whether you find the changing economic seasons merely surprising… or confusing. If you are only surprised, then you just recognize that something is happening that you did not expect to happen. You did not know that you were ignorant of certain developments until you found out. Some may have known in advance of you, like me, and if you are interested in how I knew in advance of the changes, let me know.

Reality

Reality (Photo credit: Bright Meadow)

However, if you have been confused by the changes- that experience is distinct from only being surprised. Some were not only surprised, but reacted to the new surprising information by rejecting it in favor of their unfit model. They defined reality as a problem. They sought to fix it. In their frustration at the inability to “fix” reality, they sought to blame… always someone else, have you noticed?

What if we produced the change in the economic season? Well, that would really violate any unfit model, wouldn’t it?

If you are not only open to knowing how we produced the change, but further are committed to adjusting to the changes prudently (which does not actually require understanding the changes any more than putting on a warm jacket requires an understanding of meteorology), let me know. If, however, you choose to reject reality, define reality as a problem, generate opinions about how to fix reality and who is to blame for reality, and generally invest your attention in political dramas and media controversies, consider that… you are the one who is creating the problem and you may not like the solution that you are creating.

If you are like a cold child arguing that it was warm last week and you just should not have to put on a warm jacket and it is just not fair, then I have some news for you that you may consider bad news. It could be getting even colder than this.

I know you may have been very comfortable with your familiar summer clothes, but summer is ending. The economic reality to which you have been adjusted is ending. I know what you could do to thrive through the next season. How much would you value knowing that?

Now, if you have cold feet, I have some socks for you to warm your feet, but you must take off your sandals first. Are you willing to

An example of an ankle sock
Image via Wikipedia

remove your sandals?

If you are willing to release your old model and accept what fits for the reality that is present, then I might be willing to tell you about how these changes happen. However, first, I suggest that you put on some socks and then ask any questions after you are once again comfortable.

If you already have socks on, then we can continue. If you do not, but you are willing to wear socks if your feet get cold, then we can continue as well.


–
JR
************

“Life is not what it’s supposed to be. Its what it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.” Virginia Satir (1916-1988)

written 3/19/09 & published here 3/7/2010.

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