Word-Of-the-Week #721: Prescient
May 31, 2018 by Susan Clarke
Prescient – perceiving the significance of events before they occur; psychic.
How do you react when things don’t work out the way you expected? Do you get angry? Or are you able to “roll with the punches” and come up with Plan B?
This week Bill Marvin, The Restaurant Doctor shares more perspective on dealing with the unexpected.
“In one of my more prescient moments, it hit me: Things always work out for the best, they just seldom work out the way we thought they would. Author Richard Bach put it better [of course] when he said, “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.”
Looking back on the rather convoluted path of my life, I can recount countless examples of the truth of this notion — events that seemed like the end of the world at the time but which caused me to take a path I never intended, one that has made all the difference.
The most recent example is the “septic incident” that befell us on Easter Sunday, just a month before our house was scheduled to go on the market. It has been crazy around here recovering from all that, but it looks like we will, in fact, have the house back together and ready to go on schedule … with a re-designed septic system and a lower level sporting fresh paint, new carpeting, upgraded countertops, new tile and a nice new shower.
Aside from eating the deductible, what’s not to like about THAT?
An old mentor of mine once remarked that life appears to be a series of things to handle. That observation has a deeply simple wisdom to it. You do what you do, you get what you get, you deal with what comes up and move on to the next adventure.
How do you react when things don’t work out the way you expected? Do you get angry? Do you blame others? Do you make excuses? Do you feel guilty? All those responses, however human they may be, are a total waste of time an energy. They may make you feel like you’re doing something about the situation, but don’t fool yourself — these reactions do nothing to correct the situation and often just make it worse.
When stuff happens — and stuff will ALWAYS happen — notice it, handle it and press ahead. When you’re back on track it may be worthwhile to look at how you might avoid the same negative outcome in the future, but first get it handled….competently and without a lot of drama.
[As an aside, two days ago my computer suddenly stopped recognizing my main data drive — the one with all my graphics, documents, photos and the like. I’ll be interested to learn what the hidden blessing in THAT will be!]”
This week’s focus is on being prescient. Have you ever had a premonition that turned out to be true? Do you believe that things always work out for the best? What unexpected lessons have you learned?
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