Expectations

Guest blog from Ray Sperber:

Recently I had some personal setbacks.  Throughout the distraught pondering of the events involved, several thoughts recurred.  One of them is:  What was I expecting?  

Superficially, this is easy to answer: Just play memories back to before the events.  Granted, this is sometimes painful.  And maybe hard to do accurately.

Then the issues start...  Why was it expected?  Was there any right to expect it?  

Obviously, since the outcome was not desired, the expectations should have been different...  How? Why? and what should have been done differently as a consequence?  And now, that the undesired has happened, how have expectations changed? (*)  Are the expectations now appropriate?

To all readers who may also experience, or have experienced, setbacks:  We wish you appropriate expectations.

(*) Mathematically minded readers may consider Bayesian statistics 

Ray

What to Do Next?

By my colleague and friend Ray Sperber: 

It is another Sunday afternoon, and one finds a free moment, unencumbered by immediate obligations, a few hours that are not already pre-programmed by the lives that we are living.

Default is to continue doing whatever one has been doing, content in one's comfort zone.  Clean up the car, arrange things in the house or yard, continue study on a topic one already knows pretty well, more of the same, maybe even sleep.  In a turbulent world, soothing one's soul.  Often, this is necessary.

Or one can consider to do something a little different... the path less travelled, so to speak.  This has appeal, since maybe it can be a step towards changing one's life.  For the better, we hope.  Such a choice is typically more complicated to make, since ...  What would actually help?

And, what metric are we using to evaluate the panoply of the different choices?

Perhaps:

• Money?
• Time?
• Physical effort?
• Getting closer to a special person?
• Whatever makes us feel best?
• Some other criteria?

The right answer is not necessarily the same at every opportunity.  But it is yours.  Enjoy it.

Ray Sperber

(During our walks and talks around Château de Betzdorf, we thought it would be a good idea to have Ray write a guest blog for us.)