Ever watch a butterfly? Not the Instagram kind, an actual butterfly in a field. It flutters. That's the word, right? Flutters. It doesn't blaze a path, doesn't make things happen. A quirk of existence that somehow seems wiser than most of us. I remember being a kid and chasing butterflies, convinced I could catch one. Never did, of course. I'm sure my 8-year-old self would've been gobsmacked to hear me now say that sometimes chasing things, trying to grab them, is the whole problem.

There's this belief going around like a viral TikTok clip, if you just pull the right levers, everything falls into place. That's how I lived a chunk of my life. It's all a strategy. Read the right book, say the right words, mimic success like a parrot. Safe to say, I failed as a parrot. Turns out, my squawks did nothing but irritate the cats.

Anyway, this got me thinking about systems thinkingPOST. We love trying to control the system, don't we? But most of what we experience is far outside our control. Like trying to harness a dream, not gonna happen, buddy. See, systems are like ecosystems. Everything's connected. Try to change one part, and who knows what else gets affected? It’s chaos theory or just life; you decide.

So what's the alternative? Surrender? Hell no, more like acceptance. I know, sounds like splitting hairs, but it’s not. Acceptance is active, a conscious act. It's like entering a conversation where your agenda isn’t to change the other person. You just listen.

Imagine standing in a room full of people, everyone’s chatty and charged. You can almost see the threads of conversation weaving through the air, crisscrossing like an invisible web. You walk in without a plan, just presence. You engage, not to alter the web but to observe how you're already part of it.

Sounds like a load of woo-woo wisdom, huh? Maybe. But the point is, every time I stopped manipulating, I started noticing. Noticing what I missed while busy wrestling with those imaginary levers.

Then there's the whole idea of consciousnessPOST. We say it's the lens through which reality unfolds. But often it's clouded with our own preoccupations, the "I'm influencing reality" lens. It's like trying to watch a movie while you're front-loading popcorn into your mouth. Yeah, you're getting something out of it, but missing the point.

Sometimes the most influential thing you can do is nothing at all. Take that in, really take it. You can't hack it, can't shortcut it. Sometimes, it's just about stepping back, letting go, and looking around you. You might see the world as it actually is, not as you believe it should be.

So, what's next? That's up to you. Maybe leave the strategies in your dusty planner and let your wings catch a breeze. Might be the one thing you don't have to try hard at.