RIPPLES

April 25th, 2020

The way yesterday went has a great impact on how today goes.  That virtuous or vicious relation carries over and marches forward.  What we do today has a big impact on the way tomorrow goes.

Each day is a balancing act where things can pivot for better or for worse.

Two easy examples demonstrate just how loaded this ripple effect is and how viscerally we realize it in some cases and totally fail to see it in others.

The first is cramming for a test.  We’ve all done this.  During the day before we pack every waking moment with a scan of information, a repetition of knowledge, believing that we’ll be better prepared if we can just cover as much content as possible and retrace our steps over the most important parts.  In this instance it’s fairly obvious and pretty straight forward how one day effects the next.

The second example is a hangover.  The night is full of celebration, and we live it up, and the next day, we’re practically out of commission.  We know that this happens, but our ability to willfully ignore it is sometimes just as strong as our concentration when cramming for a test.

Each day sets up the next, but we are only sometimes thinking about our current efforts in terms of future efforts.  When we do, the efforts can compound.  Preparing for the test for several days in a row, or even several weeks makes the experience of that information far more efficient and effective than cramming it all into a day.  There is an aspect of momentum that seems to exist in our minds, and ripples sent from the past time and again have a capacity to compound upon the present, sometimes giving us incredible abilities.

We know how easy or difficult it can be to get back into the groove.  Leave off working on a project for a few days and it can easily balloon into weeks, months, and forever.  Diving back into it can leave a person scratching their own head, wondering what took so long.  The next step rarely turns out to be as difficult as we fear, yet the time of unseized days has a way of rippling forward and compounding into a barrier.  The same seems to be true in relationships when people fall out of touch.  As time goes by it becomes somehow harder and harder to make that first step.

We get into a rhythm, and the beat of that rhythm is set by the days we’ve just played.  Each day is a chance when that beat might change.  It’s not too hard to tweak, especially if you have a history of tweaking those days.  Those ripples of change carry forward, making each new iteration a bit easier.