Crossing the risky line from Contemplation to Speculation

Do you often contemplate? 

Since I was going to be posing that question to the two or three people who would be reading this post,  I thought it would be a good idea to get the proper definition.

There are two actually, in the Oxford dictionary at least.

Contemplate;

1. “Look thoughtfully at for a long time”
2. “Think deeply and at length”

Now, here’s my observation, doing #1 will often lead to #2. Then if you really want to get yourself up shit creek , you move onto stage 3 , Speculation.

Also courtesy of the Oxford;

Speculate – “form a theory or conjecture about a subject without firm evidence”

Looking in the mirror is a good place to start the whole process. It can be as innocuous as this;

Examining yourself extensively in the mirror [ contemplation #1 ]

“I’d swear I have more grey hairs than I did last week, how’d that happen? “What am I going to look like in a year’s time?   [ contemplation #2 ]

 I probably won’t have any brown hair left. Worse yet, I’ll probably have no hair left”  [ speculation ]

If left unchecked , it can get even darker. Which brings me to another dictionary definition ( I love having the Oxford Dictionary app on my desktop! )

Check;

 – “stop or slow the progress of something ( typically something undesirable )”

 –  “curb or control (one’s feelings or reaction)”

Bingo! 

Keep your speculation under check.

Most bad stuff we foresee ( speculate on ) doesn’t end up happening. They’ve done research on this. What the speculation does do though is leave us feeling kind of flat, and at worst, depressed.

I have a better option for the three steps;

1. Look around at all the good stuff you have happening in your life
2. Think about how good you’ve got it
3. Speculate on how good life will be in a year’s time as things just keep getting better.

Enjoy your journey!