Don’t Assume You Know (part 1)
It's been a week of LIFE LESSONS! and at this school the education can be very expensive.
Sometimes you pay the price in losing a sale by not paying attention. Sometimes it exacts it at the cost of heartache or (aaargh!) pride. But somehow when our soul is shopping, the pricetags seem to be fair value to what we are getting (long term).
We just aren't privy to the sale – and need to have FAITH in our destiny or we'll be screwed trying to figure it out with our limited intellect (yes, even you fabulous Mensa folk, even the Giga Society boys). The poo part of it is that, at the time, we haven't a CLUE what the outcome will be.
though it's so tempting.. we cannot assume we know.
We just don't have omnipotence yet to know exactly why we've met that person in that restaurant, at that time, who set off a particular chain of events that changes us irrevocably.
For chaos math & fractal fans it's the Butterfly Effect in action (tiny ripples in the interconnectedness of space.time can produce MASSIVE 
effects – why a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can ultimately cause a tornado in Texas).
For marketing mavens, it's the effect of the LongTail and the potency of microbrands to shift culture. How a group of hip teenage boys in NYC can effect a global tidal wave of consumer's buying behaviour.. to the utter frustration of those who have spend Hollywoodsize budgets on their ad campaigns for a trickle of the attention in comparison.
We actually don't know what life has in store for us, and even when we make plans, it's bound not to turn out the way we expected it. Most truly successful people had VERY different plans for their lives, but when they began the journey, life rewarded their commitment with the opportunities to make their lives LEGENDARY.
The surprises aren't always prettily packaged, and often they may be small and seemingly insignificant. But never underestimate the power when that little butterfly unfurls its wings.
oh heaven! almost forgot, since this is a blog about celebrating genius let's introduce some here: We can prepare for surprise with the one tool to smooth out life's brutal edges:
The genius of GRACE. Grace is developing an unstoppable sense of humour for our own (and other's) humanness, coupled with a yielding to what is simply beyond our control.
"If things seem under control, you're just not going fast enough." Mario Andretti
Even though it may be largely out of your control: life is best lived by LIVING it (Oddly enough). Never underestimate a moment's lapse of attention or chance meeting to rock your world. When the tornado comes, learn to laugh and get the hell out, kitesurf the whirlwind or figure out how to spin on up to visit the wizard of Oz.. just deal with life inevitable disasters with style, courage and yes, grace.
….aaah and pay close attention to the subtle flutter of wings.. and you may avert the gathering storm altogether.
Dave Duarte said,
June 6, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Is it a coincidence that we blogged about the same thing today without conferring with each other? Perhaps… NOT!
Norman Cousins might as well have his say too then….
“No thought or action is without its effects, present or ultimate, seen or unseen, felt or unfelt.”
Rock on Ms Kaizen!
at maxkaizen.com said,
August 21, 2006 at 2:06 pm
[...] Published August 21st, 2006 in Uncategorized. .. in response to Rafiq’s comment from my last post, the theme of the geekdinner next week is umuntu ngmuntu ngabantu this is the Zulu phrase that means we are who we are because we are (ey?) or people are people because of other people. The interdependence of our lives has become increasingly evident with the rise of Web 2.0 and science has shown it irrefutably within chaos principles (esp. the Butterfly Effect). I used the exqusite Pilobolus dancers to embody this collective intelligence in the design for the geek-dinner, after seeing the link from their cirque du soleil-esque celebration-of-suppleness performance at TED :: the best gathering of genius on the planet (my opinionated opinion!) “All life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” -Martin Luther King, Jr. [...]
Gathering Stormhoek at maxkaizen.com said,
September 3, 2006 at 2:18 pm
[...] The concept of the gathering storm fascinates me (great film on the uncrushable Winston Churchill – of the same name worth checking BTW).. but neither rainstorms, nor the impending global storm rolling in on the human family’s horizon is what I wanted to post about. [...]