Each Wednesday Tim Carson shares the wonderings of heart and mind and the inspirations and quandaries of the spirit. You are invited to wonder along with him through the telling of stories, reflections on faith and observations on the events that shape our lives.  

Tim Carson

 

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Wednesday Wonder
July 15, 2015

 

I've just finished an interesting summer read, Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected (Penguin, 2015). Tania Luna and LeeAnn Renninger are psychologists who research, yes, the phenomenon of surprise.

The first couple of chapters are worth the price of admission. All human beings experience the unexpected, the surprise of events, and have predictable behaviors as a result. Shock and surprise often show most clearly in facial expression. In fact, a sturdy chemical dump takes place in the brain as we assess whether to be delighted or go on high alert.

 

There are, obviously, two kinds of surprise. We can either be pleasantly surprised or terribly surprised. They both manifest in our responses in predictable ways. Pleasant surprises often serve as great motivators in any aspect of life. The negative ones often provide the kinds of challenges or situations we would never choose for ourselves or others.

 

Most interestingly the authors present research about the ways in which people navigate to predictability and certainty (avoiding surprises) or seek out novelty, change and variety (embracing surprises). Certain personality types lean one way or the other and most of us could name people we know who come out of one camp or the other. It is also true that we rock back and forth between security/predictability and boredom/desire for surprise depending on our life circumstance. For example, if you find yourself without a steady income you will most likely long for security and stability. But longtime stability can have the opposite effect and begin to suffocate you. There is the dead-end job or dead-end relationship. In those cases novelty and surprise begin to look more attractive.

 

Beyond the opening chapters the rest of the book was fairly disappointing for me. It seemed like a collection of worn out self-help hints. As it goes I was simultaneously reading another book, one on contemporary practices of Buddhism, and I was struck by how much more helpful and insightful was the later. In fact, some of the pop psych insights were borrowed straight from Buddhism without even attributing them. Popular authors beware: people have been talking about these spiritual principles for thousands of years and you've just now discovered them. Admit it, you're late to the party.

 

Indeed, let's embrace the positive surprises that come our way as great gifts. Let us also make the best out of the less-than-desirable deliveries that land on our doorsteps. And because life is not controllable or permanent, let's stay on the lookout. I choose to believe that God is moving all the time in the predictable and unpredictable both.

 

In one of the most beloved hymns of our congregation, I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry, the final verse winds our life story toward our ending, the final mystery. And it closes with these words:

 

"I'll be there as I have always been, with just 

one more surprise."

 

@Timothy Carson 2014

 

Click here to go to Tim Carson's blog, VitalWholeness  http://vitalwholeness.wordpress.com/  

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