Hopeful Thinking - Saturday, March 24, 2018 - Thanks for the Best of All Possible Things

Quantum mechanics teaches us that all possibilities are still available until one is chosen. In my frequent case, that means every time I lose my wallet, it is literally everywhere until I lay my eyes on it. Until something creates a decision about where my wallet is located, all probabilities, from leaving it on the roof of my car to tucked safely behind the cushion of my couch, are still possible.

Is it logical? Decidedly no. But any time spent with quantum theory is a bit of an adversary to logic. It even made Einstein scratch his head.

I actually use this way of thinking when I lose my keys or wallet. I picture them safe. I remain calm. I assume eventually I will discover them. I can say to date that despite losing them virtually every other day I have never, knock on wood, had to replace a single card or key.

I won’t declare for sure that it’s my way of thinking which has kept my keys and wallet safe until I manage to locate them. Even though quantum physics would. I can say, however, that my way of thinking keeps me calm while I’m looking. Does that matter? Considering the amount of my life I spend looking for things I’ve misplaced, freaking out while doing so would add up to a lot of cortisol and adrenaline from stress I don’t need poisoning my body as I age.

Every time we are under stress our bodies produce stress hormones. Those chemicals may be good when needed to save our lives or react quickly. But most of us don’t realize we keep up a steady drip of them through the way we choose to think about how life works. Our stressful lifestyles literally acidify our bodies over time. Spend every minute you can remaining calm.

I don’t have control over how the world works or where my wallet is when I can’t find it. I only have control over how I feel about it. I can ask my faith these questions also. My faith says all shall be well. Be chill. Be here now. Visualize the safety of the wallet. Visualize the peace of the world. Make a faith assumption that the best of all possible things always happens.

If every scenario is possible until one is chosen, as illogical as that may sound, logic dictates that the most thought directed toward a particular outcome increases its likelihood of occurring. ‘When two or more gather in my name,’ as the scripture tells us. Gather your thoughts.

One might feel that they already know which the best of all possible outcomes would be for them. They would often be wrong.

We usually don’t know what’s best for us. Mostly because we simply do not know all the possibilities available. We can’t see the labyrinth from above. The potential pathways of our day are not laid out before us to choose as we are getting dressed in the morning. Thus, we can’t know which is best because we aren’t aware of them all. And even if we were, the best one might look like the worst on the surface, while underneath holding the potential to launch us into the happiest times of our life.

I can think of many instances where something seemingly terrible, which I would have never chosen for myself, was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. What if it hadn’t? What if I could have, by knowing of its possibility in advance, chosen to let the cup pass me by? What might I have missed out on? Instead of choosing what I think is best for me, I simply give thanks for the best of all possible things. I let my mind fall on that still-faceless option and feel gratitude for it.

It’s like imagining a room full of statues each covered in veils. One of them will make me the happiest to have in my garden. But I can’t look at them all before choosing. I can only uncover one. I can’t decide based on the superficial. My eyes will deceive me. I have to let my soul’s intent make one of them glow. I have to give permission for a part of me far deeper than my fallible eyes to make the connection with the best of all possible things.

That’s exactly what I pray for. Not the thing I may think would be the best or the easiest. Or looks the prettiest on the surface. But the thing which would best propel me forward in the direction of my soul’s deepest intent. That is the key to my overall happiness. That's what keeps us on the path. That is the thing to pray in gratitude when I am at my most joyful and when I am in despair, thank you for the best of all possible things. Even when it’s just my lost wallet.