Creators

We have been called creators in our own right, meaning that we have the ability to affect reality in a very profound way. This is done the changing of our thought processes, our belief systems, which in turn alters our behaviors, which changes the outcome of our reality.  The famous quote stated it so perfectly “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”.  The challenge that I and so many of us have is for the vast majority of our life we have lived with certain realities for so long we believe it to be the only available reality, not even daring to believe it could be different.
What happens when the walls come down and the reality you tried so hard to build comes crashing down? Physicists have a concept called “dissipation of entropy”, which means that when a system has reached a breaking point when it must evolve, it goes into a chaotic state, then evolves into a more powerful version of its former self. Once we have gone through and survived that chaos we are stronger and more powerful than ever before, able to take on life’s challenges with ease. There are other possibilities however on the other side of that process. One is a complete breakdown where the system refuses to evolve and simply shuts down. We call this depression, which is a verb not a noun, as we actively depress or minimize any further incoming simulation from noise, movement, food, in an effort to control the chaos instead of evolving and growing.
The other I am very familiar with called “cocooning” which is the act of spending more time at home alone as we live in a world where that is becoming the norm.  The danger of this, and the trap that I can see easily falling into is that is easier and safer to live life within the confines of ones home rather than venture out too often into the world. When we experience challenges in life this option appears to be very attractive as it makes life safer, but not necessarily more enjoyable. Cocooning can be done on a social level as I mentioned, but we can also use that same strategy with business endeavors, that is to say, wrap ones-self up in the safety of a career as it gives us focus, meaning and security, and also keep us protected from the dangers of human relationships (being a little cheeky here).
I witnessed my father spending most of his life doing good things for others but living in a cocoon of his own making, successfully alienating his family from him for most of his life. Watching his journey and knowing that one day soon it will come to a close for him, and knowing he had his reasons for his own disconnection, makes me introspective and wonder where the strength and courage comes from those who author, Brene Brown, had talked about, those individuals who experienced that worst of life yet lived “whole heartedly”. How do the whole-hearted ones live a life full of expression, connection and trust, despite living through many challenging times? How do they get back to that place? This is part of my journey is the exploration of success, how do the successful in any area of life do what they do? That is my question this day, do we learn to “be” as the whole hearted live, or do we choose “not to be” and cocoon in the safety of our homes, careers and facades.

C. David Gilks Your Fellow Traveler