In college one of the things I studied was linguistics. One professor described the field as being descriptive rather than prescriptive. What he meant by that was we were learning how speakers used language instead of telling people how they should speak. It wasn't about the right way to use language it was about how language was actually used in practice.
I found that wonderful and very inline with how I liked to look at the world in general.
I found that wonderful and very inline with how I liked to look at the world in general.
It sends it can be applied to any aspect of our life. Doesn't it seem much more realistic? Usually we spend a lot of time trying to arrange our world just the right way. We try to fit the round peg of our circumstances into a square whole. It would be better to just admit the peg is square and work from there.
I think the danger of trying to live prescriptively is that we never accept how things are. We get caught in our wishes or how we think things should be. Then it's hard to look past that.
Maybe someone was supposed to meet you at 11 and they didn't show up so you keep complaining in your mind how they didn't do things the right way. What good does it do you? It just brings stress and discontentment.
Maybe someone was supposed to meet you at 11 and they didn't show up so you keep complaining in your mind how they didn't do things the right way. What good does it do you? It just brings stress and discontentment.
Another way would be to just realize the person you were meeting is not here yet and leave it at that. It doesn't mean you helplessly accept the situation. You can decide to leave or keep waiting or make a phone call or whatever. You work from where you are, not where you think you're supposed to be.
There's freedom in that.
