Evolution

I’m finding life to be a series of repetitive cycles where good leads to bad leads to good leads to bad, etc. Life in general is a continual cycle, so it makes sense that we see the same patterns individually. Annoyingly, it leads to feelings of hopelessness and despair because of making the same damn mistakes over and over again. Feeling stuck like this in repetitive negative feedback cycles is very human, normal, and common. I call them “cycles of learning”.

Despite being a major PITA, the cycles of learning are major components of growth. And if you think about them, you’ll see that they are never identical from one period to the next. For instance, a cycle of learning may look something like this: January-“I’m going to read four books per week”. February-(Reads three books). March-(Reads zero books). July-“I’m really going to do it this time”. August-(Reads four books). September-(reads 4 books). October-(Reads 3 books). Sounds like a New Year’s Resolution? Because it’s a similar concept but I want to take this a step further and actually embrace the Psychology here. Instead of writing it off, “Yeah, well we get busy and that was unrealistic anyway”….(All the excuses), notice how even though the goal itself does not change between the two time periods, the experience and response to the goal does.

What are you going through right now that feels like a cycle of learning that you’ve been in before? Are you feeling like you’ll never be free of this cycle? And how is this cycle different from last time? I hope it’s better. Because it means you’re learning and improving!

And think about it. I mean, really visualize to see how things are different this time. See how far you’ve come on this ride, even if same problems keep following. What improvements exist which enable you to latch on and plant tiny seeds of hope for next time? Hope. It’s empowerment that makes the feelings of being trapped take a back seat and forward hopeful thinking begins to transform your life.

So, what does it look like to live a life of hope? For me, it means accepting that my cycles of learning will always be my cohorts. They are manifested in my struggles, my weaknesses and my problems. Living a life of hope means acknowledging failure is going to happen, every single person makes mistakes, and only one person was ever without fault or sing. I’m human, you’re human (I hope). That’s how God designed us, to be FALLIBLE, because we need to accept that our strength comes form HIM not from ourselves.

The beauty of this process becomes evident as we start to see ourselves evolve and simply become better at life. And the evolution can only be fueled through visualizing the future and resting on hope. We evolve not through constant and steady upward trends either. Most often, the trend looks similar to a stock market trend during a month followed by another one, only to be followed by a record high. It’s a series of disproportionately sized setbacks and stepups. I firmly believe though that greatness is attained not by continuous successes, but through continuous improvements during the challenging times. And living a life of hope gives us the inspiration that we’re going to get through, albeit wearily, these repetitive cycles of learning.

So don’t be so hard on yourself next time you “gained all that weight back”. Or if you “fell off the wagon again”. Or “forgot where you left the (keys/phone/wallet/xyz) yet AGAIN”.

Think about it this way. What is different this time? How can I use this for next time? Choose to visualize what success looks like. Pack your arsenal of hope to prepare for the next time (should it dare) your learning cycle sneaks back in.