Have everyone. It's Carly Taylor here for this week's Mojo Monday. So I'm going to start with a story today, and you may have heard it before, but even if you have, try and listen to the message behind it. So here it goes. There once was a Chinese farmer and one day his horse ran away, and all the neighbors came by and said, oh, that's such bad luck, and the
farmer replied maybe. The next day the horse returned, bringing with it several wild horses, and all the neighbors came back and they said, oh, that's such good luck, and the farmer said, yeah, maybe. And the following day his son tried to tame one of the wild horses. So he went for a ride and he was thrown off and he broke his legs, and the neighbors came around and said, oh, that's such bad luck luck, and the
farmer replied maybe. Then a week later a war broke out and the army came through the village conscripting all the young men for war. That his son, who had the broken legs, was left behind. And the neighbor said, oh, that is such good luck. And the farmer replied maybe, And I love this story because what it does is it highlights and challenges something that we all do. We really rush, without realizing it, to label our experiences as good or bad or this shouldn't be happening to me,
or this is amazing or this is terrible. And the moment we label something, we often attach the whole story to it. So it's like we predict what the future is going to bring, or we decide what it means about us and our lives, or we react as if we already know how it's all going to turn out. But the truth is, we don't. That situation that you're frustrated or upset or hurt or embarrassed about right now,
it's probably not the full story. And equally, the thing that you're clinging to, like the outcome you're desperate to hold on to, that might not turn out the way you expect it either, because life is far less linear than we like to believe. Our lives don't move in a straight line. It's like navigating a ship. You know, ship doesn't get from A to B in a straight line.
It's more like a zigzag. And sometimes things are calm and sometimes they're rough, and sometimes unexpected things happen, and from a psychological perspective, this links closely to what we call cognitive fusion, when we get hooked by our thoughts and we treat them as facts. This is bad, this is unfair, This means something's gone wrong, and from that place we react quickly and often emotionally. But the question
is what is the truth here, because we actually don't know. Yes, there are facts about what's happening, but we don't know how anything is really going to play out. But we act like we think we do, and we talk in these absolutes. So what the farmer shows us is something very different, a pause, a space between the event and then the meaning that we give it. So maybe it's not passive or indifferent. It's actually open. So it doesn't mean that you won't feel hurt or frustrated or disappointed
or excited, because of course you will. But it's about holding these feelings a little more lightly. It's about recognizing that your first interpretation is not always the final one. So this week I invite you to try something really simple. The next time something happens and you feel yourself jumping to a conclusion or labeling the experience like it's a disaster. Just notice that reaction and then pause and quietly say to yourself, maybe maybe this is bad, maybe this is good,
or maybe it's too early to tell. Because when you stop trying to control the narrative too quickly, you give yourself something far more useful. You give yourself perspective and flexibility and the ability to respond rather than react, and that could make a huge difference to what you do next. So have a great week everyone, and I'll catch you next week. Thea