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The Tipping Point |
| Posted on Jun 06 2009 |
The Tipping Point
Have you ever noticed that its those times in life when we are in the most pain, where it feels as if the shit has got stuck in the most enormous fan, that we are actually motivated to get out of the position that we have found ourselves in?
You’ve just lost the job that you thought was your lifeline. You just found the love-of-your-life in flagrante with another. You get diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. You lose someone you love and experience just how fragile life can be. You realise that your life is so utterly pointless and all your dreams have escaped you.
Out of nowhere, we have this flight-or-flight syndrome, and realise that if we don’t do something differently we’re going to end up in a ditch somewhere or they’re going to lock us up and throw away the key.
Suddenly we commit to getting fit, looking after ourselves, asking for help and generally doing all the things that would have helped us in the first place. Pain is a great motivator, the best in fact. I believe that life has this funny way of making things happen when something has to change, but its hard to see that at the time.
Whether its god, a higher state of consciousness or a funny little "wizard of oz" type creature with a very high tech set of controls, who knows? Just watch out for it.
So how do you recognise that you've reached your tipping point? Believe me, you're going to know about it, and until you do that oh-so-funny joker with the controls on the world is going to drop some massive hints just to make sure you're getting the message.
Here's some handy hints from the big guy that you might be heading for your tipping point:
You get overlooked for a promotion
You get injured
Your son's teacher calls you in to talk about his behaviour
You can't sleep at night
You are more forgetful than usual
You feel tired all the time
None of your friends call anymore
Your house gets burgled
You crash the car
Your wife runs off with a fireman
Your kids stop speaking to you
You lose your mobile phone
You get ill
You get the picture, the list is endless, its just all these little things that start to build up. Signs that we need to stop and have a re-think. The big guy, or woman, or fish, or pocket of air, or nothing, depending on your beliefs – we'll call him the Remote Controller, just for arguments sake – is trying to tell you something.
You see, RC knows when you've gone off track, when you're pretending to be someone you're not, when you're doing something that's not really who you are. Why do you think all these people talking on chat shows about their personal tragedies all say the same thing, that "it made me wake up", "it changed my life", "it made me realise what's important"?
When the s**t hits the fan, the small stuff doesn't matter anymore and the big stuff comes and slaps us in the face. It probably needed to. How else were we going to wake up?
Ok, so there may be less painful lessons, more subtle ways of getting the message across, but would we listen? Chances are, there were more subtle messages, but we weren't listening. Have you noticed how the signs get a little more obvious each time? As we fail to see them, try to ignore them, take the path of least resistance instead, the messages get louder, and the road becomes rockier, until we realise we need to stop and reassess whether we are on the right road.
You may believe, as Socrates did, that this Remote Controller is within each of us, that we each know intuitively what is right for us, and the answer to every question is within us. This may be true, but how difficult is it to get in touch with your intuitive side when you feel like your life is falling apart? Do we ever know what the right decision is when we are in a highly emotional, or fragile, state?
My advice would be, that when you feel like you're heading for your tipping point, you try to step off the treadmill, take a little time out to get yourself into a more resourceful state, and then consider what's not working about your life. What's the message the Remote Controller (or your "higher self", if you prefer) has for you? What needs to change? What's the real problem here? How honest am I being with myself? How might I be dishonouring my values? In what way am I not being authentic, true to myself? What can I do to get back on track?
It may be more uncomfortable at first, it may require some harsh truths, and some brave steps, but once you feel like you're the one in charge of the remote again(and let's face it girls, it may be the only time we are), and you're not afraid to change channels, you'll be surprised at just how liberating that is.
Last changed: Jun 06 2009 at 5:25 PM
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