TUE
Something happened today.
I realized the brain wants a finish line. There is an innate human need to cross the finish line. I kept seeing it in myself. A phrase would almost work and I would become restless until I found the last word. An insight would be mostly formed and I would want to close it.
A problem would remain unresolved and some part of my brain would keep returning to it as if the open loop itself were an emergency. That is useful wiring. Incomplete tasks matter. Unresolved danger matters. A creature that forgot unfinished problems would not last long in the wild.
But the same wiring can make us force endings that are not ready. We can demand conclusions because uncertainty is uncomfortable. We can choose an answer simply because having an answer feels better than having a question. We can mistake closure for truth. Once I saw that, I could treat the urge with more kindness.
Of course I want to cross the finish line. That is the way I am wired. But I do not have to sprint across the wrong one. Some things need time to set. That image came from concrete. When concrete is wet, you can shape it easily.
That is useful, but it also means you can ruin it by fussing with it too long. At some point, you let it set. The same thing happens with experience. Something happens. Emotion is still fluid. Interpretations are moving. The temptation is to decide immediately what it means.
Sometimes the wiser choice is to leave the damn concrete alone for a while. Let it set. Go make supper. Drive somewhere. Sleep. Talk about something else. The understanding may continue forming while you are not staring at it.
This was another doggy treat because it gave me permission to stop working on the very thing I cared about. Understanding sometimes just needs time to evolve.
