He backs this up with a lot of science – which I like:

Psychologists, economists and legal scholars often speak of people as having multiple selves. This odd idea helps to explain a lot of our mistakes – we just don’t always know what will make our future selves happy. In fact, we make predictable errors, says Carnegie Mellon University economist George Loewenstein, thanks in part to a mental habit called projection bias. We put too much weight on our current tastes when thinking about our future ones.

This article got me thinking about some aspect of my own life that I have a tendency to try and plan.

I read a lot and some of the books I lately I’ve been reading a few books on Zen and how your mindset shapes your reality. I just started reading a book titled, “Zen and the Art of Happiness” and right off the bat there was a concept that I wanted to share:

“Every event that befalls me is absolutely the best possible event that could occur.”

By this, the author is basically asking you to understand that you cannot plan your life. Things happen, some things you will consider to be “good”, some you will consider to be “bad”. But really, you don’t know what the future holds and how it will shape your life, your beliefs and your opinions of “good” and “bad”.

For instance, I have been writing recently that I expect to lose my job soon. The economy is bad and I feel that my boss – whether deserved or not – is not happy with how I do my job.

Here’s the thing though, I don’t like my job. I don’t like where I’m working or what I am doing. It’s causes stress in my life and relationship. It doesn’t interest me or fulfill me as a person. Why am I still doing it? ‘Cause I make a living from it, I have bills to pay and it’s tough to find other jobs right now. But I would be forced to re-evaluate my career, life, goals if I were to get fired, right? So maybe…

“Every event that befalls me is absolutely the best possible event that could occur.”

Just a thought. With that said, I want to share a few other quotes that I feel are related to this subject (I’m a big quote guy). I wrote these down in my planner a long time ago and randomly came across them today – maybe someone’s trying to tell me something?

“Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.”
-Niccolo Machiavelli (don’t be scared…it’s still a good quote)

“It’s never too late to be who you might have been”
– George Eliot