Daufuskie Island; SC
“As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of
living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.” - Henry Van Dyke
“If nothing changes, nothing changes.” - Ernie Larson
“If we always do what we always did, we will always get
what we always got.” - NLP Adage
When we find ourselves in a pattern of recurring pain, we are undoubtedly
stuck in a negative pattern. Plato said
“necessity is the mother of invention.”
That may be right, but a friend recently made a comment that gave me
pause. He said that growth only comes
from pain, and if there is no pain we can only enhance the level of
understanding that we have reached. It
would seem rather odd to advocate inflicting pain upon one’s self in order to
grow, but I don’t suppose that is a new concept – the vast majority of the pain
in my life has been self-inflicted. I
just didn’t realize it was me hitting myself in the head at the time.
The
biggest problem for me is that I believe my own perceptions. And one of the most destructive perceptions
that I convince myself of (without realizing it consciously) is that the pain
of the familiar is more desirable than to risk the unknowns that come with
change. This is insanity. I am repeating the same actions over and over,
day after day, and expecting a result different than what I am getting
now. And this leads to misery – many
steps past just basic pain. And so the
battle rages – fear of the unknown which manifests itself as unwillingness to
change versus the pain and ultimate misery that comes with stagnation.
A ship
can only move one degree at a time, and it is not even evident to one who is a
passenger that a change is occurring.
Over a period of time, each one degree shift adds up – at some point to
180 degrees. A complete change of
direction can happen without the participant even really noticing the
change. What can we do today to make a lasting
1 degree shift in our direction toward a positive direction? I bet if we pray
about it we will come up with a lot more than one. But if we just focus on one today – and maybe
for a couple of days – I bet we can make one small positive change that we can
maintain. Inch by inch everything’s a
cinch – we can change the complete path and landscape of our life without major
upheaval. But the alternative –
stagnation – is sure to pull us deeper into the mire. Nothing stays the same – regardless of how it
appears. And that includes us. So let’s be proactive – just one small
positive change today. Tomorrow will
take care of itself, but today, just today, we can begin working on a legacy of
excellence.
Today, may I do the work.
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Happy Friday !!
David
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