It's... Complicated....

If everything was just as simple as it seems on the surface, right?

As what often happens, the subject of this post sort of arose organically from a series of unrelated instances, conversations and observations I had where I saw a pattern.

What I continue to find fascinating (and at times vexing) about the world that we live in is that, at first glance, things can often appear to be simple when in fact they are quite complex.

Sentences...Images...Decision making...Problem solving...Health issues...Political policy making...Relationships....

We often get tricked into thinking that what meets our eyes, minds and hearts is exactly as it seems. In our quest to create order in our worlds, we make judgements every day based on observations that usually lack full details or context.

For example, when we look up at a clear night sky, what do we see?

Do we see darkness that is interrupted by occasional bright stars?

Or are we looking upon a sky that is?completely filled?with stars, some bright and some faint, but so infinite that our minds cannot comprehend it and choose to fill it with something simple: blackness?

Think about this the next time you are out on a clear night away from city lights.

Or when you see a shared image of someone smirking at someone else on your social media feed.

Or when someone close to you is struggling to make a decision when the answer seems so clear to you.?

We need to remind ourselves to take a moment to consider that things are probably much more complicated than what we are seeing.

I know I fall into the trap all of the time. I will say things like "What you really need to do is...." or "Don't they understand that...."

I do this because I am trying to fix a problem or resolve an issue mainly so that I can restore order in my own mind. I quickly process the information I observe and come to a swift conclusion so that I can move on to something else.

Some may attribute this to intuition or experience. Others may call it arrogance or ignorance.

Either way, maybe now as I increasingly think and learn about the overall proliferation of data available to us for analysis these days, I am beginning to understand that this approach usually just substitutes precision with speed and ultimately leads to imperfect results.

And while I don't believe the alternative should be nervous hand wringing, paralysis by analysis or a complete lack of action, I am thinking that the path to a happy medium has to begin with making ourselves embrace complexity as opposed to shy away from it.

By acknowledging that things are probably more complicated than they seem, we can influence outcomes that may not be faster or grandiose,?but more precise.

So hopefully we can all agree that despite what we see on the surface, "it's complicated"....Long post -- simple ending.

XOXO

Dave

This was adapted from the Feb 23, 2019 intro to my weekly "Friends of Dave" newsletter, which is accompanied by interesting links I curate each week. If you would like to see past full issues, please click here >>>?https://friendsofdave.substack.com/