The Black Cat of Surprise

Metaphorical Narrative

Everyone tells you to avoid the black cat. Don’t cross its path. Don’t let it near you. It’s painted as bad luck, omen, misfortune.

So you keep trying to predict — scanning the road, peeking around corners, planning detours to never meet it.

But what you miss is this: the black cat was never your curse. It was already your ally. Silent, sharp, relentless — it was out in the alley hunting the rats you hate. The ones chewing holes in your peace. The ones gnawing on your sleep.

Prediction had you dodging shadows. Meanwhile, the cat was doing the work for you.

Core Insight

Prediction feels like control, but it’s really avoidance. You’re trying to outmaneuver the unknown, as if life were a chess game you could master in advance. But the truth is, life’s surprises come with their own hidden allies.

The black cat of surprise is not your enemy. It clears the ground for you. Every time you let go of prediction, you make space for something unseen to already be working on your behalf.

Saturday Experiment

Today, catch yourself when you start rehearsing outcomes or making endless forecasts.

Instead of predicting, pause. Let the “black cat” walk where it wants. Notice how often life is already cleaning up messes you never had to solve.

Sunday Reflection

When they sit to journal, let them write in third person:

• Where in their life has the black cat already done the work behind the scenes?
• What “rats” have been removed without their prediction or control?
• How might they allow surprise to be an ally instead of an omen?