Many things I read and discover are profoundly compelling to me and yet, in many ways, I remain unchanged, or at least insignificantly changed.
So how does transformation really happen? What I've discovered is positive transformation doesn't happen if we don't want it to. Step one: genuinely desire to be transformed. This creates a willingness to make whatever authentic effort is needed, and to do so consistently seems quite important. The rest of the process is relatively easy after this is taken care of...
Over and over again, I see myself making this effort inconsistently in fits and starts. This doesn't discount the effort I make but it goes without saying that if you're trying to drive somewhere you're not going to get very far if you're slamming on the breaks every two seconds. Will there be movement? Sure. But while a little movement forward is better than none, I don't think it makes sense to say that a little movement forward is just as good as a lot of movement forward.
If two cars were were drag racing and at the green light one of the drivers put both feet on the gas while the other lightly released the brakes and allowed the idle to inch the car forward, the first car would obviously go much farther, no matter when you decided to stop the race.
The implication is that going farther means...going farther, and -from one perspective - going farther is better than not going as far.
If I put you in the driver's seat of one of these on an open road and then said you had 30 seconds to go as far as you possibly could, what would you do? Well, maybe you'd be scared out of your mind and start sobbing like a child after about 10 seconds but I'm guessing it would seem obvious to many of us that the way to go the farthest would be to put both feet on the gas. Yee haw!!! I'm feeling a bit of a rush just imagining such an endeavor.
That's fine for racing but what difference does it make how far we go in the journey of transformation? Depends on who you ask. For some, how far we go - how transformed we become - makes no difference at all. After all, how can we possibly judge such subjective things like transformation? There is truth to this, in part. We can't possibly know how far we can go until we try. But we can all learn how to discern how much effort we're making, whether or not we're really giving our whole heart and putting both feet on the gas.
What I'm asking is, how interested is any one of us in actual transformation? Are we giving all that we can?
What I'm speaking about isn't a list of things to do, it is a position in relationship to life where we are giving everything we have to becoming all that we possibly can be. A position can be assumed at all times, in all places. Indeed, for a position such as this that is the goal! But in order to become grounded in this position or posture takes much effort.
Is it worth it? Seems to be. Am I prepared to live it? That is something I'm more unsure about.
So how does transformation really happen? What I've discovered is positive transformation doesn't happen if we don't want it to. Step one: genuinely desire to be transformed. This creates a willingness to make whatever authentic effort is needed, and to do so consistently seems quite important. The rest of the process is relatively easy after this is taken care of...
Over and over again, I see myself making this effort inconsistently in fits and starts. This doesn't discount the effort I make but it goes without saying that if you're trying to drive somewhere you're not going to get very far if you're slamming on the breaks every two seconds. Will there be movement? Sure. But while a little movement forward is better than none, I don't think it makes sense to say that a little movement forward is just as good as a lot of movement forward.
If two cars were were drag racing and at the green light one of the drivers put both feet on the gas while the other lightly released the brakes and allowed the idle to inch the car forward, the first car would obviously go much farther, no matter when you decided to stop the race.
The implication is that going farther means...going farther, and -from one perspective - going farther is better than not going as far.
If I put you in the driver's seat of one of these on an open road and then said you had 30 seconds to go as far as you possibly could, what would you do? Well, maybe you'd be scared out of your mind and start sobbing like a child after about 10 seconds but I'm guessing it would seem obvious to many of us that the way to go the farthest would be to put both feet on the gas. Yee haw!!! I'm feeling a bit of a rush just imagining such an endeavor.
That's fine for racing but what difference does it make how far we go in the journey of transformation? Depends on who you ask. For some, how far we go - how transformed we become - makes no difference at all. After all, how can we possibly judge such subjective things like transformation? There is truth to this, in part. We can't possibly know how far we can go until we try. But we can all learn how to discern how much effort we're making, whether or not we're really giving our whole heart and putting both feet on the gas.
What I'm asking is, how interested is any one of us in actual transformation? Are we giving all that we can?
What I'm speaking about isn't a list of things to do, it is a position in relationship to life where we are giving everything we have to becoming all that we possibly can be. A position can be assumed at all times, in all places. Indeed, for a position such as this that is the goal! But in order to become grounded in this position or posture takes much effort.
Is it worth it? Seems to be. Am I prepared to live it? That is something I'm more unsure about.
2 comments:
People tend to move in the direction of greatest comfort. This keeps them in the comfort of their lives without exploring scary other ways of being. Until their current lifestyle becomes less comfortable than another, they will naturally stay in that place. For some this may mean staying in the worst of circumstances because it is what they know and no matter how much they don't like it, any other way of being is scarier. How do we change then? One way is to increase the level of discomfort in our current way of living, AKA hitting rock bottom. This will naturally move us away from the old way of being. Living with purpose, having a goal, and having the courage to continually face the discomforts of a new way of being as well as the pleasures also involved, is a less natural way to transform.
Thanks for the post.
You're welcome:)
I totally agree with most all of what you're saying, Curtis. If we're comfortable with how things are it IS very difficult to make the effort to seek out anything new and different from what we already believe we know.
One challenge I see is that hitting rock bottom is no guarantee where we'll end up. Even when we get to a point where we're desperate for change enough to act, our tendency is to do what it takes to find another place of comfort and stability and then stay there, which may be a much better place but is not necessarily the same as embracing and expressing higher values.
We're definitely all at different stages of development and understanding and I think that's fine because, well, that's how it is! To really embrace transformation beyond our comfort zone means finding a more compelling motivation than comfort and I think this can emerge from 'big ideas' about the nature of life and personal experience in discovering those things that are of greater value.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts;)
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