Everything I know is wrong

One year ago I started a mock experiment – the experiment of being stupid. What I did during the experiment was trying to prove that using less of your brain capacity to think about stuff that seemed unimportant could translate into a happier life. Practice proved me wrong. It is not the thinking that kills us, not even the “unimportant” stuff we are trying to process. Using less than you actual mind capacity does not function either.

While experimenting for a way into a happier life, one that required less thinking and more perceiving, there were some happenings around me that were of definite help. Some will still take time to refine, some could immediately be translated into actions. All in all, the one thing that made me richer this year was that I learned to laugh heartily – at both life and myself. This was the one good side effect of being stupid – you cease taking yourself ever so seriously and start weighing the pleasures of life through other lenses. You start considering your life from the perspective of its impact in other’s people lives. Not necessarily the tags they attach for you inside their heads, but what you mean to them, how you can be of help to them. You start seeing the beauty of nature around, start being interested in the recipe of the cake you are eating at the business meeting, really enjoy the taste of the morning coffee and stop taking it for granted. You start developing others instead of just yourself and start laughing when you see others handling situations with the self-importance you once attributed to yourself. You start seeing the context rather than the individual pieces of the puzzle and you stop obsessing about what you cannot change.

In spite of all these benefits, my basis for considering the experiment a failure is that all this does not necessarily relate to thinking. Quitting thinking was not what led me to those insights, as a negative action does not translate into a positive one. It was probably love that did the trick. Unconditional, constant, foolish and vulnerable love, one that came in unnanounced, unawaited for, while the barriers of too much thinking and analysing were lowered.

The topic is complex and still needs expanding, and over the next posts I will try to write more about it. It’s just such a relief to know that I can finally continue the thinking where I left off, armed with a more powerful weapon than ever before.

And the hardest part
Was letting go not taking part
You really broke my heart
And I tried to sing
But I couldn't think of anything
And that was the hardest part

I could feel it go down
You left the sweetest taste in my mouth
You're a silver lining the clouds
(Coldplay, The Hardest Part)