trapped – From the desk of Adam Thomas

We don’t investigate, so we don’t learn

Life isn’t simple at first. It takes work to make it so.

Without that great work and acknowledging complexity, we create undue tension.

One of the ways we create that undue tension is when we blame people.

Blame comes with complications. The tendency to blame tries to flatten those complications into a story about a hero (you) vs. a villain (them).

That “flattening” of the story isn’t reality. You replace what happened with something that is flattering. It’s designed to spare your feelings and show the world how much you “were wronged.”

If it seems dramatic, that’s because it is.

When we straighten out the story, we lose the nuance. When the nuance drops, we consider it as “straightforward” and, all the while, nothing to see there.

It leaves an opening for you to make the mistake again. It’s a cycle.

When you blame someone, you are making sure you don’t learn. Dangerous stuff.

Blaming someone takes the recording button off. You lose yourself in the action instead of winning the lesson.

How scary is it to run towards the noise?

We(human beings) don’t like to run towards the trouble. Most of our lives build on avoiding it. We live with warnings from several people, always telling us that the end of the world is near, especially if you decide to investigate whatever that noise is. Because of that, we end up growing a certain amount of cynicism towards the noise, and anyone who decides to try to figure it out. In turn, we soon become the people who warn others about the noise, creating a cycle.

It is a huge reason most of us feel trapped, even with no cage around us.

What is the noise?

It is something that is extremely hard to pinpoint, but something we all have. It’s the question we don’t want to ask out of fear of rocking the boat, or its the meeting we don’t want to deny because it’s a waste of time(and denying it would piss someone off), or the blog we swear we are going to write because the world needs to hear us.

The noise is what makes every human unique, and why if you know how to connect to it, every single conversation you have is interesting. That noise is the thing that makes us unique.

I think we all have a noise inside of us but kids showcase it the best.

It doesn’t have to end though

It’s very active when we are young. That noise compels us to ask questions, explore, and talk to anyone. It leads us down roads often considered “odd.” I think kids make us smile because we see it, and we think it is alright for them to have it. It doesn’t hurt us to see someone so young with it, because they don’t remind us of ourselves yet. They are free.

But later on, we tell them to kill it, to fit in, to “act right.” They miss out on the grand insight from it, and it only gets to come out at random intervals of inspiration.

It’s a shame, because it usually grants great innovation. But luckily, it’s never to late.

We don’t investigate, so we don’t learn

How scary is it to run towards the noise?

What is the noise?

It doesn’t have to end though

Start listening.