Eleanor Roosevelt said that “today is nothing more than the result of the decisions we made yesterday.” To some, this may seem like a truism, but the truth is that when our emotions take control and life takes an unpleasant turn, we forget these wise words and put the blame on others or external factors.
For this reason, on this occasion I would like to reflect on the Butterfly Effect and its implications on the way we face our lives.
The Butterfly Effect, for those who don’t know it, can be summed up as follows: “the flapping of a butterfly’s wings can cause a hurricane in another part of the world,” which tells us that in our universe everything is connected by threads that we often cannot see but that exist.
In other words, the Butterfly Effect tells us that small initial variations can produce large variations in the behavior of a physical system over the long term. And if we think of our lives as physical systems, we can begin to glimpse the great scope of this idea.
Life is the sum of our decisions
If we apply the Butterfly Effect to our lives, it shows us that each of our small daily decisions and habits lead to big changes over time. The problem is that it is usually not one but many small decisions, the consequences of which often go unnoticed. The typical case is that of a person who finds themselves in a big problem but does not know how they got to this point.
On the one hand, applying the Butterfly Effect principle to our lives allows us to understand and accept that we are where we are because of our decisions. This helps us to regain control and take responsibility for our actions. It is not about fostering a feeling of guilt but about stopping looking for external culprits and assuming responsibility for our mistakes. Only in this way can we move forward and grow.
On the other hand, this principle also means that everything we do today will determine our future. This implies that we can change here and now, to achieve the results we want and get closer to our goals.
To better understand how the Butterfly Effect works, just think about how the subway works. There are different stations where you can change trains to get to your final destination. Often, we don’t pay much attention to these small changes, but in doing so we run the risk of radically changing our journey and even ending up somewhere else.
In life, if we don’t pay attention to those small decisions, after months or years, we can reach a point that we don’t like and we don’t even know why. In fact, it’s obvious that nobody would buy a ticket to the “Failure Station” but we can end up there if we’re not attentive to exchanges.
Habits and decisions that indicate that we are victims of the Butterfly Effect
– When you wake up at the last minute, cursing the alarm clock and without time to enjoy the first minutes of the day, which should be sacred to have a good day.
– When you choose to stay alone in front of the TV instead of taking a walk outside or reading a good book.
– When you smoke, drink and overeat, just because these habits give you the calm you need.
– When you spend most of your day checking social media and using your phone instead of talking to people directly.
– When you get lost in “urgent” tasks that are completely useless for your life project.
In short, there are many small bad habits and everyday decisions, and in one way or another, they determine the course of our lives. The important thing is to learn to detect and eliminate them in order to put in place habits that really lead us to where we want to go. Remember also that the worst decision we can make is precisely not to decide.
