When I was a kid, I decided that Friday the 13th was a lucky, fun, special day. I figured if we thought black cats were scary but they were considered lucky in Japan and other parts of the world, I thought I could just make my own kind of luck. All the talk of “don’t walk under a ladder” and “uh oh, better watch out, it’s Friday the 13th!” just made me anxious instead of safer. Two friends of mine did the same thing growing up and now we send each other Friday the 13th greetings.
Fear, bad luck … these are all manifestations of our human need to figure things out. Our communal and mutual worrying speaks of a fear we all universally have: Will bad things happen to me? And how can I prevent this? Sometimes our society is more amped up about this than others. If you’re old enough to remember all the water-hording and bank withdrawals that happened before Y2k (when planes were supposed to fall out of the sky and society collapse into chaos) you know what I’m talking about. (in case you weren’t there… nothing happened!)
In this crazy March Madness energy I’ve had more anxious questions and emails that usual about worry and more worry. On forums I’ve read astrologers talking about the “accursed degree 29th Pisces” (others say it’s really positive!) coming in the eclipse and read people fretting over earthquakes. I’ve seen several people posting about how Stephen Hawking warned that instability in a Higgs boson could cause the END OF THE UNIVERSE, and therefore it’s time to freak out if Cern’s large hadron collider gets fired up on schedule towards the end of March.
Deep breath, everyone. The Universe is still going to be here for a long long time (Stephen Hawking actually said that a particle accelerator the size of the Earth would be needed to create such an event – something that will probably be too expensive for anyone to ever make). Besides that, let’s get real … what is all this worry actually doing to us? What exactly are we trying to control when we fear dramatic events and disasters? Now you might be chuckling to yourself that anyone would fear the actual end of the known universe, but I can guarantee that you worry about “Will bad things happen to me?” at least sometimes. It’s only human. Whether you’re scared that your chicken salad went bad, that a loved one will get sick, or your boyfriend could leave, or that you’ll lose your job or be alone forever – it’s all normal.
Yes, sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes it feels good to hear that when the world tells us it’s so NOT OK. Plate tectonics create earthquakes, and low atmospheric pressure and water vapour can whip into a hurricane that decimates a city. With the power of choice or illness, people do sketchy, sudden and crazy things. Unfair things happen, sad things. Anyone who has been on this planet long enough knows that life does not always seem fair or fun based on our personal perspectives and needs. We won’t get into the philosophical debates of things happening “for a reason” or the balance of light and dark and how chaos and destruction,as in nature, is part of life’s cycle… we’re just speaking of the reality that events we perceive of as bad things DO happen in every life.
We have two choices about how to handle this fact: do the best we can, try to create our own luck wherever possible, take responsibility for our mission to take care of our world and each other… or we run around like Chicken Little screaming “The sky is falling!” and trying to get one up on the disasters that could happen. Constantly worrying, “what if” about everything in our lives big and small, always trying to peek around corners doesn’t help us deal with things and it doesn’t help us be where we need to be.
Obviously, worry is designed to be beneficial and to help us. It helps us plan for things and be realistic in assessing our needs and future needs. This human gift helps us survive and create. But unfettered worry is neither helpful nor creative. At some point we have to accept and let go of the fact that we CANNOT (and won’t!) be able to see everything or control everything…. and that that’s OK and all part of the game too!
The biggest mistake people make about intuition is that somehow our intuition is there to always save us from surprise. A psychic, or our gut instincts, or tarot cards can keep us safe from disaster. Nope! Intuition doesn’t tell you exactly what will HAPPEN, that’s up to you– it gives you insight about your present role. Whether you believe this is a soul journey and its all part of a learning adventure your Higher Self/Spirit knows, or if you believe that stuff just happens – life will throw curveballs out sometimes. Would knowing or control even benefit us anyway?
Even if you believe in the concept of Spirit Guides, those Guardian Angels won’t remove the lesson for you. Have you heard the saying, “God only knows?” Face it, some truly awesome, wonderful and growth-inducing things in life come wearing a disguise of pain and we would NOT want to go through them, or we’d try to arm ourselves against change if we knew what we were getting into with the limits of our current intellect. A friend of mine said, “If I’d had known how hard it is to be a mom, I might not have done it – but I wouldn’t have known how wonderful it is to be a mom -it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
So stop. Even if you COULD know everything, you wouldn’t want to. In my experience it’s better to use the brain power spent excessive worrying for other things. The best way to thrive and survive is not to endlessly anticipate … but to BE HERE NOW creating the path that carries you into a safe and successful future. Use your intuition to help you deal with the fact that nobody can tell you what will HAPPEN, that’s up to you! Use it to help you see possibilities and influences right here and now. Fears will come up sometimes and seem really “real” but that doesn’t mean they are. Like the y2k scare, most of the time things aren’t as bad as our brains say they are.
Today, pet the nearest black cat, watch some Jason Voorhees movies, get comfy knowing that we’re all in the unknown and we don’t know whether the next day is a black hole supernova day or a special landslide of cake, cookies and cash… but that we CAN handle whatever comes our way. Make the most of today – now is the only moment we ever really truly have. Make it special and lucky 
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