THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Last week I began reading the novel "11/22/63" by Stephen King. Now I am not a Stephen King aficionado. I think after I watched the mini-series IT and I truly understood that clowns were evil, just like I thought, I haven't had a hankering to follow King's works.

Regardless, this novel's premise intrigued me. It is about time travel and in this case the protagonist is able to transport back in time to potentially stop the JFK assassination from occurring. As the novel advances there is continual reference to the "butterfly effect," defined as follows:

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions, where a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state. The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane's formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before. (from Wikipedia)

I have written a couple of blogs related to this condition in the past (Small People, Small Places, Small Things... and Does a Moment Change a Life), which were focused on what we can do at any moment to positively affect the lives of others. That can be from giving someone a heartfelt compliment which makes their day or helping someone, or just smiling. Simple things, yet the butterfly effect as defined above could make a huge impact.

But what if we had a time portal and we could go back and change things which we either feel guilty about or perhaps we believe would have led to a more desirable outcome in our lives. What then? 

I have heard over the years people lament about a variety of aspects of their lives with a refrain of "If only." "If only I had taken that job opportunity;" "If only I had changed XY behaviour, then I might still be married (or in a relationship);" "If only I had left the job/marriage/relationship earlier;" "If only I had gotten X degree vs. Y degree" and so on. Whenever you hear this type of statement it is usually followed by some variation of "...and then I'd be happier or in a better place now."

Unfortunately we are not given the opportunity to watch the "What if" reels and as in the butterfly effect, there is no saying your life would be better or worse, or perhaps even the same. And neither do you!

“Each affects the other, and the other affects the next, and the world is full of stories, but the stories are all one.”...Mitch Albom - from the Five People You Meet in Heaven

Too many people spend time living in the past and do not live in the present nor plan for the future. Are there things that if I had 20/20 hindsight that I would do differently? Maybe, but I like who I am today, and I know that had I not gone through some of the experiences which I had, then I would be a different person -- maybe better, maybe worse, who knows. But I know that I probably wouldn't be where I am today...and where I am is a good place.

If you don't like who you are, or where you are, and concentrate on what you could have done differently in the past, then you are missing the point of life. Because your future doesn't reside in your past, it resides in the here and now. If you don't like it, begin a plan to change it. And be patient, things don't happen overnight. You may not like where you are today, but it has given you valuable insight and as the old saying goes "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."

So take some time today to reflect, not on the past, but on the present and the future. How are you going to take advantage of all those butterfly wings that have been flapping to get you where you are today and how you can positively affect your future by having new butterflies wing into your present plans for the future, and that you won't have a whole new raft of "if onlys" in a few years.

You may not be where YOU think you should be, but you are always where YOU need to be .... from me (as far as I know)

So take the power into your hands today and develop the mold of your life for the future.