Stepping Back

It's late, again. It's time to go to sleep. Was going to the gym but instead spent some quality time with my best bud here. I am tired of saying "last" this and "last" that. I simply spent time with someone that makes me happy, that's that.

Once again we spoke about how great life is if we can simply step out of the vortex that drives us crazy. In this case, something to do with romance. Really, can another human being's failure to fulfill our expectations of romance make us so crazy? It's not worth it, especially when we aren't in love.

That's what I wanted to add tonight. I was listening to another lecture on Financial Markets. I know, very interesting. But it is. this lecture is about behavioral finance, study of human behavior, usually irrational, in investing. Most of us are risk adverse, meaning we prefer certainty over risks even if mathematically certainty, 100%, is not superior to other probabilities in the way we perceive. But we usually prefer certainty over any other prospect. That already says something about how we behave, not just in investing, but in life. Me, at least. We need an answer. We need black and white. We can't stand living in uncertainty. It's embedded in our genes, it seems, to seek out certainty at all price.

That was the secondary lesson I learned from this lecture. The even more illuminating one is that not only do we seek certainty, but we make such decisions, and many decisions, in compartments of life. When we are faced with a decision that involves $100, we make a huge deal out of it, even though, if you look at the expenditure and income over a lifetime, $100 is really insignificant for most of us not living in poverty. But we are, again, programmed to see every little thing in the small context that it is in, so that every little thing seems so big. Every problem, however insignificant, is viewed as a giant challenge, every pain and unbearable hurdle. This at least is the tendency of human beings, even if we don't all behave like this always. So stepping away from the financial theories again, we see how we just don't see the big picture.

In my case, always grumbling about being single, I don't really appreciate life, or as my sister says, the gift and love of God, when I focus so much on one silly person's rejection and inability to "see" me. It's quite ridiculous to let the behavior of one person upset the balance and peace of my life. It's possible for me to just shrug and accept that not everyone is ready to have me in their life the way I want.

It's funny that my buddy tells me everyone loves me and I really can have any woman I want. I don't take her words at face value. But I'd like to think there's some deeper truth to what she says. In the end, it doesn't matter. My life is put on a silver platter compared to what a majority of the people in the world have. And I am thankful, most of the time, at least, instead of complaining.