Comfort Comes From Knowing and Believing: It Is What It Is For the Obvious Reasons

When you take the time and think about all the names and things you have been called during your personal and professional life what’s your conclusion?

When you take the time to think about all of the different people you have met at work, at church and within your community; or personalities you are only familiar with by accidentally or purposely listening to them on television, cable news, social media or hearing their stories from others you trust, what’s your conclusion?

When you “take the time” to “think” about what you “think” about most of your conscious time, does it bring you “comfort,” or does it bring fear, anxiety and concern?

If the answer to the last question is “comfort”, then I would suggest that for all of the situations mentioned above, you, on a regular basis, are sure of what you know, and what you believe…and, by sure, I mean you have taken the time to truly understand each situation, evaluate the substance, and have within your heart and mind concluded: It is what it is for the obvious reasons.

Now, if the answer to this question is some level of “fear, anxiety and concern,” chances are, you are not alone.

I suggest that for all of the situations mentioned above, you will feel more comfort if you would include in your daily schedule the time to do what is required of you to sincerely “know and believe” what you are thinking and why.

As I took the time to study and research for my new book, Living a More Thoughtful Life: Thinkable Thoughts and Relevant Reflections , I concluded the following:

According to cognitive psychologists, on average, we have about 80,000 thoughts every day. In fact, there are so many thoughts that we give up on expending the energy required to really determine what’s on our mind and why.

So many seemingly unnecessary thoughts, that we unknowingly allow our intuition, [which is the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning ], and others, to decide what we know and what we believe.

For simple daily decisions, intuition works fine.

However, in Thinking Fast and Slow , Nobel laureate, and award winning psychologist, Daniel Kahneman writes that “intuition is nothing more and nothing less than recognition. When we experience something either directly (first-hand) or indirectly (we’ve read about it or hear it in a podcast) our brains take note and file it away.” Kahneman adds that “intuition is thinking that you know without knowing why you do.”

Yes. As well-trained, educated and caring professionals, we have amazingly well-trained intuitions, and fortunately, we are well aware that the only real constant in life is change.

But by taking the time to depend less on our intuition, and to think more deeply about life changing issues that are affecting the broader society today, we would contribute less apathy, and more tangible action, toward more common sense, contemporary and humanitarian solutions. Thus, bringing more comfort to many.

As changes in global environmental and economic conditions, our jobs, our lifestyles, and the character within our society that governs us, [such as changes in our societal rules of engagement, our laws, and our politics], our fears, our anxiety and our concerns normally rise, and our comfort level, naturally decreases.

During these times, we all should take deeper breaths, “take the time” to deeply evaluate our thoughts, and gain more comfort by utterly understanding what we know and believe about situations, personalities and what can easily be recognized as the obvious reasons.

Many times, a simple and quick evaluation of the truth, the consequences and other’s motives, as well as those of our own, will shed some authentic light…and bring comfort by allowing us to conclude, in our hearts and our minds…It is what it is for the obvious reasons.

Ervin (Earl) Cobb is an author, coach, trainer and speaker on Leadership and Peak Performance. He is widely recognized for possessing the charisma, energy and passion required to e?ectively convey valuable lessons learned and keen insights to all levels of an organization ‐‐‐ from new managers to experienced C-level executives. Earl has forged an accomplished career as a systems engineer, project manager, technology executive, and gifted author. He is the author of 15 published books and over 100 published articles. Over the past decade, since retiring from corporate America, Earl has been a powerful voice and enthusiastic thought leader. He is currently the Founder, CEO, and Managing Partner of Richer Life, LLC