Succinct Shots #3: Flipping The Switch
Making the mind work in your favor over the stagnant alternative
This is the start of a series called Succinct Shots. It’s based on a practice of stream-of-consciousness writing. It’s my own variation on The Artist’s Way Morning Pages, a journaling technique to trigger creativity. Most of these are from a reflective period and sway towards self-help sentiments.
Switching the mind is a powerful and productive change. Being able to transform negative thoughts into positive action is a psychological victory. The switch needs a trigger to be activated. But once the flip is made, it makes all the difference. Finding the right message to build inertia to flip the switch is the hard part.
There is a prolonged time when the switch stands still and seems like it is stuck in position. There are many attempts that try to get the switch to move but it only changes for a short instant. It takes more than motivation to make a complete change.
The flip is also triggered easily, but to prevent flip backs it requires a deeper, more personal commitment. The cause or reason that determines the switch has to resonate deep within your spirit and reflect who you really are.
Each of us has a past and present that helps guide us to the future. Without resolution of either one, then the switch will not occur. Life is a series of overcoming obstacles, so you need to understand your own past to lead you into the future. The present is somewhat temporary, somewhat a state of well being that does not fully aid the potential of the future.
A switch is usually necessary to reconnect the past to trigger your potential future. It turns the present upside-down to shake your current state into a new one. Without bold change there is no getting past the comfort zone that keeps us safe from a formidable future full of failures, fears and personal growth again.
The present is a purgatory, a stagnant place of safe practices that feeds off past trials and satisfies past efforts. It is not where you can be at your best. It is a safe place of comfort that sucks out your soul. A soul requires more nourishment, more fire and more desire. It is unhappy and unfulfilled in the comfort zone.
The soul is made for combat. It is meant to be a fighter. It has to flourish under adversity. And it will soar to higher levels under duress. Only by making a switch will your soul be called into action to make you who you are.