I have no idea what's going to happen

And, newsflash: neither do you.

Whether we believe that there is a divine, omniscient and omnipotent force directing every thing that happens in the universe, or that fate is pre-determined by a bazillion atoms randomly colliding every nanosecond–or some other theory entirely–the one thing we can be sure of is that we exaggerate our power over the future constantly.

And, despite our faith in our Nate Silver-esque skills, it turns out our ability to accurately predict what might happen isn’t all that reliable either.

Our illusion of control drives four unfortunate outcomes:

First, it causes us to waste an enormous amount of time and emotional energy.

Second, we make ourselves (and often other people) crazy in the process.

Third, the more attached we are to a certain result the tighter we tend to grip the wheel, further exacerbating the first two factors.

Lastly, when we get wrapped up in trying to change things that we cannot, or let ourselves spin in believing in our non-existent gift of prophecy, we miss the opportunities and beauty that are the gifts of the present moment.

Just relax. Nothing’s under control.

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