“You watch The Walking Dead? Isn’t that a little scary?”
“Oh yeah. I watch a lot of zombie movies because I have a lot of zombie dreams.”

I couldn’t help but overhear the small, nine year old boy talking to his nanny on the D train, no doubt trying to act more brave than he actually was. His mistake was obvious. He didn’t watch a lot of zombie movies because he has a lot of zombie dreams. Clearly it was the other way around. It was because he chose to watch so many zombie films and TV shows that he was burdened with so many nightmares. We were all aware that the boy had it backwards, but he was absolutely convinced that the dumb luck of what we dreamt dictated the choices he made in his television viewing.

I wonder how many of us have areas in our lives where we make the same mistake as this boy and mix up the decision and the result.

I don’t take risks because I’m not a brave person.
OR are you not a brave person because you don’t take risks?

I don’t try new things because I always fail. 
OR do you always fail because you never really try?

I don’t make art because I’m not an artist.
OR are you not an artist simply because you choose not the make art.

We’ve heard that correlation does not always equal causation. This is true. But sometimes it does, and we just have the causation completely backwards.