Dr. Ellen Langer

Now, because I made the mindful decision to stay home, I know that what I need right now is just some peace and quiet to be by myself and so on.

I'm not going to regret not having done that other thing.

If I don't know why I'm doing what I'm doing now and I find out the other option was a

then I would experience regret.

So the bottom line, if you know why you're doing what you're doing, you're not going to regret not doing something else.

It's like we were saying before that, you know, oh my gosh, how could I be so gullible?

Well, that's because I'm buying somebody else's or my own after-the-fact interpretation of why I did what I did.

But I did what I did going forward because I'm trusting.

And if I'm oblivious to that, then I become a victim of every negative person's interpretation of my behavior.

Well, it's more than that we don't know.

It's that we don't know that we don't know.

That's the bigger problem.

Because then when we think we know, then we disparage other people, different ideas.

We limit ourselves in so many ways.

I think it's realizing that uncertainty is the rule, not the exception.

And when we know we don't know, then we naturally tune in.

And what people need to realize is that everything is always changing.

Everything looks different from different perspectives.

So we can't know.

But let me tell you a story that it's meaningful to me.