Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

Practicing for the Play of Life

Imagining the worst-case scenario can create unnecessary worry and fear. Doomsday scrolling and feeding the egregore is not healthy. That being said there is a usefulness to setting aside time on occasion for targeted contemplation, self-examination and seeking insight into how you would respond, act, live, if certain situations arose. Learning to do this in a healthy way opens doors for a more rapid and calm response in emotionally charged or physically stressful situations because you’ve thought it through in advance.

Like learning self-defense techniques, the more you practice, the more it becomes automatic in a real threat. So, too, are mental, emotional and spiritual endeavors that may arise from a dark night of the soul to getting scammed by an online thief to revoking contracts inside the system that you never agreed to or any other scenario you’d rather not encounter.

Pretending we’re untouchable to life’s challenges by just thinking positive and keeping a high vibration is not only delusional and unrealistic, but it stops life, it’s boring, and if you’re going to seek out on any type of adventure (and you should) it will often come with unavoidable challenges that test your resolve, patience, and/or spiritual fortitude. Those challenges often give rise to some great stories, some undiscovered parts of yourself, a lot of laughs, poignant memories, and a coming home to find yourself a little bit different than before you left for the journey.

So often when we think of preparing for an emergency we think of prepping. Make sure you have food for 3 months, collect your “illegal” rain water, make sure you have candles and ammo…things like that. But what if there are way more important things to be done to prepare when Shit Hits The Fan….and it will, in one way or another. (not to discount candles and ammo, LOL)

The New Age tells you not to think about anything “negative” or uncomfortable, definitely don’t imagine the worst-case scenario. I think deep down everyone knows this is not a wholly valid way of thinking and I bet you have an example in your own life where you halted yourself and imagined the best-case scenario, put on your positivity top hat and were having a wonderful day when…. the thing you didn’t want to happen, happened…yep, something probably popped right to the forefront of your mind just now?

From a subconscious aspect this can be analyzed to death with things such as, well you must not “really” have believed or it wouldn’t have happened or “you just weren’t thinking positive enough.”

The new age or narcissistic behavior of gaslighting will meet you every time you open up to hard things you are going through or try to discuss this with someone who is so intent on never looking at anything bad…. or real.

While a there is some nuggets of truth inside these beliefs, there is a glaringly overlooked aspect to it, which strangely seems to leave a lot of them in the doomsday club, panicking, living in fear or believing fear mongering propaganda, both mainstream and alternative.

You see, just scrolling through doomsday news is not useful, nor is avoiding things to only “try” to be positive. In the middle of this quagmire is the meeting of sensibility and heartfelt hope. The handshake between fate and will. The acceptance of what is in exchange for taking action to live. The opportunity to recognize that the world has an agenda for you and you get to opt out and forge your own path, knowing these are not two parallel paths but an ongoing crossroads of decision points.  The individuation of reclaiming your power from the world via contract manipulation, energy harvesting and/or giving up your own authenticity to people please or make others comfortable, brings about a long process of undoing and reclaiming. There’s no easy button, nor switch to flip, but a constant effort towards doing the work to purify your own soul and be in service to something greater in how you show up day after day.  Joy is, indeed, the ultimate shadow work and training for life’s obstacles spiritually, mentally and physically will help you unlock the inner child that got lost through societal conditioning.

If you are never willing to examine this, you miss an opportunity to see where your own shortcomings are, which is of great importance for self-awareness…and survival.

I often look at this practice of examining both the worst outcome and the best because I find it deeply motivating. In stoicism, looking at the worst-case scenario is called premeditatio malorum. Premeditatio Malorum is looking at what might go wrong in real life situations, and while it may sound like a horrible task to undertake, it can actually bring relief and a sense of comfort.  After all, if you have received and or seek spiritual gnosis, you’ll realize much of what we fear is unwarranted.

Once you imagine the things you fear as what happens in the outcome as the worst possible thing that could happen, you unlock something in your mind that alchemizes that fear and you become more prepared for any scenario that might manifest.  You’ve played it out in your mind, so you don’t have to enter into a state of worry or dread, but something magical happens, an encouragement of faith steps in with a pat on the back and says, see, I’ve brought you here, no matter what happens, you are ok, you can do this.

Maybe by imagining the worst-case scenario you realize you need to get in better shape so it actually pushes you to start working out, you envision yourself in the worst-case scenario moving through it with so much ease that it doesn’t even seem like that big of a deal because you are prepared!

This is what no one wants to talk about…. life will bring challenges, it will bring the worst-case scenario, it will surprise you with things you have to deal with…. how prepared are you, really?

Are you physically training to be in better shape so that you can run up stairs or defend yourself if you had to?
Are you fasting so that if you were in a situation without food, you would be ok without it for a period of time?
Are you doing some sort of meditation or mindfulness practice, so that if there was no more internet or you found yourself stuck, where stillness was required you’d be fine?

Life is not just a school, but a battlefield, a training ground, and the test of resilience for body, mind and soul are all spiritual tests for being in the world but not of it.

If you fear imagining a worst-case scenario because you don’t want to “manifest” it, I challenge you to do just that. The resistance we have to the negative is more likely to bring it on that to ignore it, to be unprepared, or watch the stress of an unprepared response happen when the thing we didn’t want to happen, do.

I’d venture to say, you have an example of this in your own life as well. We’re all guilty of avoiding what we know we need to do to…the inconvenience of a situation we’d rather not face.

The worst-case scenario is needed sometimes and it’s not all your fault made manifest by your negative thoughts because we live in a duality, a co-creative universe, and as powerful as you are, to cast all blame on yourself, or the individual experiencing a situation, is manipulative and cruel.

People are victims of circumstances… and no, they didn’t always ask for it, manifest it, call it in, whatever….and yes, they get to choose to stay in victimhood or rise up.

I promise you are stronger than you know and by occasionally embarking upon this exercise and preparing yourself for any possible outcome, you’ll feel that it wasn’t as “bad” as you thought it could be and that feeling stems from the willingness to look at unwanted outcomes…. the ability to welcome life as a training ground for spiritual fortitude, resilience, tenacity and growth, which happens from really living.  

No self-help book can prepare you for life, you have to step into the fire. No guru can tell you what to do, you have to experience the consequences of your own choices, both good and bed, in order to forge the blade of a sovereign spine. No short-cut or hack will decrease the path or make easier what is in store for you as you walk through this life.

What if the worst-case scenario is the best thing that could happen to you and you only imagined what you “thought” was the best? When we limit our minds by thinking up what we “think” is the best thing that could happen, we also limit our potential, our abilities and the possibilities to transform…. not that you need transforming, but maybe you do? Maybe there’s a higher minded more potent you that wasn’t ready to step into and wield the power you’ve been given until the right moment in time where your efforts invited you to be initiated by fire or patience or suffering or slaying the dragons or embarrassment or burning away the debris of what no longer serves you or facing an obstacle instead of trying to go around it? What if?

Laughter is the best medicine because it’s a clown world filled with pranksters and jokers…and they aren’t laughing despite the painted-on grin…you see, that’s the difference in pretending and authenticity, that’s the difference in preparation and hope, that’s the difference in being able to look at what is, what might be and denying the fullest expression of being.

If you’re going to be a wizard that creates magic in your life, you are going to need to be prepared for the worst…while hoping for the best.

Where in your life are you not showing up in the way you would like to?
Where in your life is there room for improvement?
What do you fear happening the most and why?
What would you do if that happened?
How are you devoting time mind-body-spirit daily to train for living with more vitality and joy?

If you know the voyage will be on water, you should take time to learn to swim.
If you know the statists will try to take and take, you should “take” the time to learn how to be free.
If you know the road will be long, you should pack for sustenance along the way.
If you know things could go bad OR good, why not prepare for either one?

Negative visualization, while not frequently talked about in the fake positivity realm of new age gurus, can not only make you more resilient but bring up feelings of gratitude for the moment you are in. This doesn’t mean sitting around doomsday scrolling and listening to fear-mongering nonsense, it means a realistic examination of who you are if xyz happened and what actions you see yourself taking in that scenario. Being ready to respond with a prepared body, mind and spirit to any scenario brings more peace, joy and trust in yourself and your abilities.

“Recent psychological research tends to show that people who are able to accept unpleasant thoughts and feelings, without being overwhelmed by them, are more resilient than people who try to distract themselves or avoid such experiences, through strategies such as positive thinking.” – Donald Robertson

If the worst thing that could happen is death, do you fear death? Ok what’s the next worst thing that could happen? Keep backing away until you realize all of the possibilities for worry are unlikely AND then ask yourself are you prepared for any of these?

Then do the same thing for the best possible outcome…the funny thing is, many times we are also not prepared for the best possible outcome. Fears of success, power and good things happening require an equal amount of responsibility, effort, and practice in the same way negative visualization does. Even though focusing on our desires is a more common exercise than its opposite, most don’t actually stop to examine if they are prepared for it, for how it might disrupt their life, relationships and responsibilities.

We can’t possibly prepare for everything, nor should we spend all of our time trying to do so, but testing ourselves and our tenacity voluntarily from time to time, even in small ways, can help us find more strength when trying times arise. After all, not all surprises are welcomed! Ha! 😉

Life is not always a picnic, but, like a child imagining the grandest adventures while playing with a stick and climbing a tree, so too, can we tap into that fantastical spirit and make the best of what is.

Discipline brings ease…. unfortunate scenarios bring strength. Will you run from them or to them?

When we stop and listen to God, to our surroundings, to our higher self, we will find, not a desire to stay safe inside peace, positivity and non-attachment… but an urge to take risks, conquer our own demons and prepare for whatever life dishes up. Sometimes this will bring frustration, sadness, anger, and other times we’ll find ourselves joyful, peaceful and in a state of ease. Allowing both to exist, and welcoming it, narrows the extremes and helps us stay closer to the middle of the road, able to balance the thin dividing line of opposites, and not get swayed by the broad way of the pull that the madness of the masses throws our way.

To bring the yin-yang inside and invite an alchemical process of merging opposites means we have to look at both sides of the coin, not just what “feels good” but also what terrifies us the most.

Both positive and negative visualization, imagination, and contemplation hold a useful place in the practice of living a full and whole life. May it be a terrifyingly wonderful adventure that invites boldness, courage, logic, freedom AND flow, compassion, creativity, gentleness, affection…and love.

Life will surprise you, wishful thinking won’t change that, but some practice in preparation will help you through the seasons that bring mud and mayhem.

With heartfelt stoic thoughts today,

Angela