This is 'Bad' - Maybe yes, maybe no.

I wonder what you are all thinking. Seriously, if I could take a poll and ask of your interpretation of the current actions and reactions to the global virus epidemic, my wager is that the scattergram would be pretty wide and diverse. Oh, certainly there would be two poles around which most people would cluster: one that the world is over reacting and the other that it is important to take such drastic precautions. But it is the “why” inside those reactions that interests me.

Asking “why” as in, “Why am I doing this or why is she doing this?” gets into our meaning-making and interpretation of the events. Events are just events, just as trees are just trees and sunsets are just sunsets. But some of us look at a sunset and think of how beautiful that is while someone else might think of the refraction of light waves making the different shades of red and orange. Some of us look at a tree in awe and wonder, some see leaves and the tree trunk, some see a joyful place to climb and see out further, still others see the source of oxygen, and some see a source of lumber. But the simple fact is that it is just a tree until we begin to perceive it.

It is the same with how we react to the current epidemic of COVID-19. It is, on some level, just another outbreak virus like H1N1 or the norovirus of a few years ago, though perhaps spreading faster by catching us off guard. But it is a virus. What is your reaction and interpretation of the situation? As a consultant, my entire Q2 book of business vaporized last week. Should that mean that I am hopeless, or could it be possible to reinvent my business model in these weeks where corporate clients are hunkering down? Is it good or bad? William Shakespeare’s Hamlet says, “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Your reaction and interpretation can make a world of difference. Even calling something either good or bad produces an impact. Labeling something as good sets us up for the potential crash of disappointment while calling it bad potentially immobilizes us. In labeling, we take away our ability to use and work with the information at hand.

There is an old Zen tale about a farmer who had only one horse for tilling his field. One day the horse ran off, and his neighbors came over to console him, saying, “that is so sad and awful. It is too bad your horse has run away.” But the farmer responded, “Maybe yes, maybe no.” The next day the horse returned with three mares following him. Again the neighbors said, “What great fortune it is that you now have four horses.” The farmer remained unmoved and just said, “maybe yes, maybe no.”

His son was then trying to tame the wild mares that day and one tossed him off and he broke his leg. “How awful – what bad luck,” the neighbors cried. And of course the farmer just shrugged, “Maybe yes, maybe no.” The very next day the emperor’s troops came through the village drafting all the young men into the army. But the farmer’s son was not taken because of his broken leg. Again the villagers praised the farmer’s good fortune, but of course the farmer just smiled, “Maybe yes, maybe no!”

Events like the current epidemic can make us feel whipped around emotionally as we alternatively label things good, bad and horrible. But we have to recognize that it is our own interpretation that makes that happen. My invitation is to hold off your interpretation and just look at the opening for new action your current situation affords you. The great theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote what we often refer to as the serenity prayer: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can,” (and this is the most important part), “and the wisdom to discern the difference between the two. What you have control over is your interpretation of events. As for the events, accepting what is allows us to take new action in each succeeding moment. Have a great day of action!