How Do You Know What's Really Going On?

10 MINUTES TO LESS SUFFERING

Host Alison Carmen uses a personal anecdote about a fallen tree on her terrace to explore the dangers of negative storytelling during uncert

Key takeaways

• A severe storm in New York City knocked down a large tree in a heavy planter on Alison's terrace.
• The host initially experienced a state of 'freezing' due to the negative assumption that the tree was dead.

Main topics

• Managing uncertainty
• Overcoming negative thinking

Notable quotes

Don't write the story of tomorrow.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a reminder that even when life feels overwhelmin

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:12) Hello, my name is Alison Carmen, and welcome to my podcast, 10 Minutes to Less Suffering. And the name of today's podcast is How Do You Know What's Really Going On? And I know I've talked about the trees on my terrace before, but sometimes they just remind me of the flow of life. They remind me of our expectations and our judgments. and our belief that we know what's going to happen next, that we know what's going on. About six weeks ago, there was a storm in New York City, and it was so strong that it knocked this huge tree down on my terrace that lives in a very heavy planter. And so when this planter fell down, the tree was laying on the cement for a couple of days. And so the first thing I did is I Had to find someone to help me pick up the planter, which I did, which took me a day or two. And then I noticed that the tree's leaves turned brown and they started to fall. And for some reason, when I first watched this, I didn't do anything. I think there was a part of me that thought the tree was dying and I felt stuck. I felt frozen. And if you think about it, how many times do we see something that we don't like? And we just don't know what to do. And we freeze. And sometimes we freeze because it's time to pause. But sometimes we also freeze because of our negativity. And for me, it was my negativity. I believed that the tree was dying. So after a couple of days, I finally called the landscaper and I sent her a picture. And she said to me, the tree might not be dead. The little plants by the soil around the tree might be, but maybe. She actually used the word, maybe the tree's not dead. I have a good feeling about it. So a couple of days later, someone that works for her comes over and he seems quite positive that the tree

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