Murphy’s Law

Can we create a new Murphy’s Law?

Most of us are familiar with the principle of Murphy’s Law or Sod’s Law as it is often referred to. It is most commonly stated as “if anything can go wrong, it will”. So what exactly are some of these famous laws?

Murphy’s Laws

  • If anything can go wrong it will
  • If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong
  • Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse
  • Every solution breeds new problems

Just reading through some of these laws I find myself grinning. It does go to show how resourceful and imaginative we as human beings can be when it comes to focusing on the negative. Whilst the laws are funny and can even be rather accurate at times they can also be poisonous if we pay too much attention to them. Dr Cliff Arnall, a lecturer at Cardiff University came up with a mathematical formula for Sod’s Law and how to avoid it, “Now it’s Sod’s Law – the formula“.

What if we could come up with a new set of Murphy’s Laws? A sort of antidote? Something to tell ourselves when things don’t go according to plan? Who has been told that a bird dropping falling on you is good luck? Or that rain on your wedding day is a blessing? This rationale of making something that is actually rather frustrating and annoying into something positive is exactly what I wanted to explore here.

What if Murphy’s Law is self imposed? It would be too simple to say just be happy, optimistic and cheerful all the time regardless of what is happening around you. The main thing is to take control and make a conscious choice of how to face certain blips.

Apparently, according to aerodynamic laws, the bumblebee should not be able to fly. Not being aware of this, the bumblebee goes about its business. What could happen if they suddenly learnt this ‘scientific fact’? Maybe some would be so disconcerted that they would be incapable of flying based on this limiting belief. Their power seems to come from their own ignorance.

If we tell ourselves that we can’t do something then it will be much harder to achieve it. If something bad happens and we say “I knew this would happen to me” this sort of conditioning can be paralyzing, like a bumblebee learning they should be incapable of flying.

I am not suggesting that one should not allow oneself to feel sadness, or to cry, the difference is to experience natural human emotion versus reacting negatively to everything that happens. One has to accept that there will be hiccups along the way. Maybe the best antidote is to simply acknowledge the glitch and make an active and conscious choice of how you will feel and how you will allow it to affect you. Next time you feel Murphy creeping up on you, see this as an opportunity to take control and feel empowered by it. Remember the bumble bee and their sweet honey…

Find out about the origins of Murphy’s Law.

26 Responses to “Murphy’s Law”

  1. Stefanie says:

    Love the Bumblebee analogy! Positive thinking all the way..

  2. Excellent blog you have there, thanks for sharing, iv bookmaked you!

  3. Cool stuff, but the posts don’t display properly on my iPad, perhaps you could check that out. Thanks, anyway.

    • Ana says:

      I’m sorry to hear that the posts are not displaying properly on your iPad. Could you please let me know how they appear, so I can look into it?
      Many thanks for your help.
      Ana

  4. Hey keep up the great work.

  5. Ana says:

    Thanks! I’m glad you like my work.
    Ana

  6. Yeah, Thanks for making my morning a little bit better with this great article!! 😉

  7. Shanda Mix says:

    Haha, nice share,good article,very usefull for me…thanks 😀

  8. Ali Hassan says:

    Thanks God that there is someone who is caring about others. Thanks Ana, May God Bless you.

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