It can seem strange to remember that a diamond and a lump of coal share the same essential chemical composition. They’re both pure carbon. A diamond is simply a lump of coal, plus time and force. Once time and force have been applied, no one would be likely to mistake a diamond for a lump of coal, even though the chemical composition hasn’t changed. You have the choice to regard yourself as either one or the other, a diamond, or a lump of coal. The shame of it is, that most of us, in complete innocence, see ourselves as the lump of coal. We may believe we have the raw

Thriving in Uncertainty We’ve all heard that people are often afraid of change, and while that’s true, it doesn’t get to the heart of that particular fear. While we may be afraid of change, it’s the uncertainty behind change that we find upsetting. Humans love to believe they live in a world of certainty, and we also love to believe the future has a predictability to it we can count on. There’s a certain amount of truth in that, but it’s a narrow, limited truth. All the elements in our lives we like to think of as predictable, as knowable, are predictable right up to the instant they’re not. A feeling of