Jason Levin, LCSW
(302) 464-0021
  • Home
  • About Jason
  • Common Questions
  • Directions
  • Make An Appointment
    • Contact Me
    • Privacy
  • Blog

Life Constellations: How NOT To Make A Decision

7/6/2015

Comments

 
Picture
The other night I was trying to point out some constellations to my wife, who did her best to make sure to put on her best "pretending to care" face.  We have an agreement where when I go Super Nerd on her and get excited about science, she doesn't tell me to shut the hell up.  Marriage is compromise, after all.

It got me thinking, "Why do we have constellations at all?  It's just a bunch of dots in the sky with random lines connecting them."  Well, we're hardwired for pattern recognition, and we can't stand chaos (the Joker excluded).   If we didn't recognize patterns (like how that sabertooth tiger has a pattern of trying to eat me), then our ancestors literally wouldn't have survived.  We need familiarity and we need predictability because they give us some semblance of control over a world that couldn't care less what we think.  It literally is a very small-scale version of a life and death situation.  So what do we do when these patterns we so desperately want don't actually exist?  We make them up!  We create stories and then we try to convince ourselves (typically by trying to convince others) that we actually believe them.  This isn't just connecting stars in the sky; this is how we make our choices day-to-day from who we consider a friend or foe, what job we take, and the everlasting questioning of "why" something has happened.


Read More
Comments

    Archives

    January 2018
    October 2017
    April 2017
    January 2016
    October 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    January 2013
    February 2012

    RSS Feed

Jason Levin, LCSW  LLC | Call  (302) 464-0021 | Fax (302) 298-0919  120 W. Main Street, Middletown, DE 19709 |  
E-mail  Jason@JasonLevinLCSW.com