3P Random Reflections Blog

"Can't see the forest for the trees". It was always one of my favourite expressions, since it so aptly seemed to explain my own thinking... getting bogged down in the details of a project at work, or a situation I was struggling with, and being paralyzed from making a decision on the "best" option... the state of "analysis paralysis".

And the more I deliberated on the options, the more trees appeared. In fact, I remember once saying that I can not only see the trees, but I can see all the veins in the leaves in the trees.

What I saw was the INFINITE choice of options. I really believed there was this huge forest filled with an infinite number of trees, and that I needed to choose which one was best.

Now with just a glimpse into the illusion of thought, both the forest and all the trees become an illusion as well.

And so what I didn't see before, but more clearly see now, was that any one option was no better or worse than any other option, LITERALLY. Instead of an INFINITE number of trees to choose from, the only option was just to choose one tree or not, choose the forest or not. And even that choice doesn't really matter, since believing there is any choice to make at all, is just another illusion.

Despite my glimpse into our illusory existence, I still have plenty of forest and tree thinking every day. But fortunately, I'm much less inclined to think I need to do anything about it. And that just allows me to more easily make decisions when I do, and not worry about non-decision making when I don't.

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