Well, of course, it does. This moment results from all the stuff that happened, and the next one is the same.
It’s all just stuff that happens. We’re the ones attaching stories to it.
- Normal Stuff. What we were expecting.
- Good Stuff. Better than we were expecting.
- Great Stuff. Way better than we were expecting
- Bad Stuff. Worse than we were expecting.
- Terrible Stuff. WTF just happened?
Note the word “expecting.”
Our sense of joy or suffering arises from what comes next. Expectation meets reaction. Sometimes we want more of it. Sometimes, we’re indifferent. Sometimes, we want it to all go away.
Right there is where the mischief occurs. It’s not what happens; it’s the frame we put around it. It’s the story we tell ourselves.
The tricky thing about those stories is they color our perceptions of what’s going on right now. Trickier still is those stories become anchors. They color not just this moment but all the others that look vaguely alike going forward.
The best story you should tell yourself about this bad thing that just happened?
This is going to make a great story someday. I can’t wait to see how!