How to Master Cause & Effect To Unlock Your Inner Power
(Source - Bad Guy Saying)
Surviving or thriving in rapidly changing times depends on how you respond
In this rapidly evolving world, one of our challenges is to figure out how we respond to constant change. This blog explores how you can master the law of Cause and Effect to unlock your inner power and boost your ability to succeed.
To move beyond 'surviving to thriving', in this rapidly changing world, today’s business leaders need a shift in mindset. The law of Cause and Effect is one of those shifts. Depending whether you are standing in cause, or Effect will impact your chances of success or not!
You may also have heard it said that nothing happens by chance! And everything happens for a reason! For many, that's a tough pill to swallow, especially in these changing times.
You see there is only one constant - one universal. It is the only real truth - causality! Action - reaction. Cause and Effect. (The Matrix)
What is the Law of Cause & Effect?
In a nutshell, every action (or inaction) you take or not, has consequences and results in your life! That is the law of Cause and Effect.
Let's start with a definition - the Law of Cause and Effect is an intuitive concept of causality explaining the relationship between events whereby a Cause creates an Effect. Still, the exact nature of these relationships can be hard to guess.
Cause and Effect is part of several universal laws that guide our everyday lives. Quantum science, for example, has popularised many these laws, here are a few of them:
The Law of Rhythm – the seasons, cycles, ups-and-downs and stages of life.
The Law of Choice – the will to choose our actions at any given moment.
The Law of Attraction – what we attract, (good or bad) is what we get.
There's a whole bunch more of these laws. But, let's stick to Cause and Effect and how it impacts your success. The choices we make are Causes (conscious or otherwise) and produce similar outcomes or Effects. So let’s explore how these affect our every day lives:
Stop making excuses!
In any difficult situation such as coping with the Coronavirus Pandemic for example, and many more ordinary ones, one of our defaults as humans is to avoid responsibility. And when we think about circumstances that happen to us, at first glance, on the surface, we might often conclude it is a situation that we had no control over. But that's only partially true. The more vital truth here, deeper down, is that for everything we personally do (and avoid) there is an Effect.
Causality. Action, reaction. Cause and Effect!
Also, isn't it right, that when something goes well, we like to take the credit for it? But when something goes badly, we usually shift the blame elsewhere, don’t we?
Isn't it more convenient to believe that it's the actions of ‘the bigger systems at play’ (or other people in more everyday situations) that cause our emotional reactions?
After all, it isn't our fault is it?
But as hard as this situation is, we need to look at ourselves more closely here, and take responsibility for what we will do and how we show up - in other words, we must avoid turning the situation into an excuse.
Excuses, excuses!
Excuse = Effect = No Control
So, we tend to fall into the excuse trap as our autopilot default reaction. Such as it's the Pandemic, Brexit, we're in a world recession, it's our PM | President |Government, etc. - no matter how well qualified the reason, how sincere the justification, how unfair the situation – these are still excuses (Effects) right?
Results or reasons
Here's an even harder pill for you to swallow - relying on fate, blaming things on circumstances or other people is, in fact, a very ineffective strategy! In life, you either get results, or you give reasons.
You either stand at Cause, or you stand at Effect, there is no in-between.
Take a look at yourself
Try this exercise - point at something right now and notice the three fingers pointing right back at you! This is precisely how it is when you seek to blame circumstances on someone or something else. You want to transfer the blame, but it comes right back to you!
keep being stuck, or unlock your inner power
Think of it this way - Effect is sticky, it keeps you stuck, you continue to make excuses and find reasons for not being able to do what you want or not being able to change. In Effect, you're choosing to be the victim. But, the rub is, you never get the outcome you want if you stand in Effect!
Standing in Effect holds you back!
Any time you give a reason, even when it seems to be real and genuine, you believe that what is happening outside of you is more powerful than your ability to transform it from the inside.
But that is not true!
The truth is when you get back to Cause you are in charge of your results.
Standing at Cause is the 'can do, will do' attitude that enables you to reflect, grow and take responsibility. Cause is the key which unlocks your inner power and allows you to take control of your outcome.
Take responsibility and max up your power
For maximum power, choose to take responsibility for whatever happens in your life.
It doesn't matter what decision you make and intention you set, whatever it is, it becomes the Cause. The Effect is then the result of that decision or plan.
The same is true for your personal relationships as well. Treating the essential people in your life with respect, love, compassion, dignity and honesty (all at Cause), you will then enjoy loving, stable relationships, and be content and fulfilled (this is the Effect).
If you apply that same principle to everyone you meet, and work with too, you will get astonishing results.
This can feel hard at first, especially when you are at the bottom of the proverbial pit that some event, some crisis, or someone else has dug for you.
The fact is though - you rarely have control over external events and circumstances (like a pandemic), even less so concerning other people's actions as a (result of that pandemic say).
Acknowledging this fact is the first and most powerful step in getting back to Cause, the power-end of the equation. When you recognise the fact that you are where you find yourself, no matter how you got there, you have started to take the first step to regain control of your situation.
It is what it is
It is what it is. You are where you are. So, what's next is your choice?
Once you take this step, you make a stand against acting the victim, because the one thing you have for sure is control over how you choose to react and respond to a situation and thus influence our outcome. (response-ability) = Cause.
So, you have 3-Choices…
Stay where you are (at Effect) and blame everyone and everything else.
Or, choose to take responsibility and step up to do something about it (at Cause).
Model others that you look up to follow how their causes create successful effects in their lives.
No matter how thinly you slice something, there are always two sides to a coin.
When you take responsibility you flip that coin in your favour by choosing to stand in Cause, and then a whole new vista is open to you. For example to move forward in difficult situations, you can ask yourself:
"What is good about this situation?"
"What did I do to cause this emotion to happen?"
"What can I do about it?"
"What can I learn?"
"What is the first step I can take to change things for me?"
"Who can I model that is successful, and how do I apply this to my own decision making?"
You are the Michelangelo of your results
Regret over past events or actions is sticky too - it holds you back in Effect. So, ask yourself the right questions (above) to realise your choices and to choose positive emotions instead. With practice, it is always possible to stand in Cause.
Cause = Responsibility = Power
It's all in the mind; you only need to make the right choices!
Like it or not, you are the Michelangelo of the results you experience in your own life.
Every thought you have, every word you speak (whether to yourself or out loud), and every action you take is like planting a seed; a seed that will germinate and grow when the appropriate conditions are present. This is the law of intention.
You reap the effects of having sown the seeds of past thoughts and behaviours. Be very aware that there are no idle thoughts and uproot the negative ones too! You see, when you have negative thoughts, you give away your power. You might not be aware that you do this, so start paying attention to your internal dialogue. Your thoughts and internal mind chatter profoundly affect your present reality and influence your future results.
Remember, owning your results is living at Cause, and this allows you to create similar results in the future.
Tips for practising staying at Cause
So, in summary, to be a leader standing in Cause it is important how you show up.
Here are some tips to help you:
Become aware of how you respond to outside circumstances and exercise more choice in your responses. Once you do that, things will stop happening to you, and you will actively start making things happen. When you decide to move from Effect to Cause, you will notice that it is much easier to get the results you want.
Acknowledge your emotions - they tell you where you are right now. By accepting how you are feeling and the thought that those feelings rode in on, you can then start to regain your personal power by reframing to a more resourceful attitude.
Watch your internal dialogue, simple as that. Your inner talk is the source of all your emotions and actions. When you change your internal dialogue, you become in control of your thoughts which then provides you with the right mental environment to empower yourself through choices and stop being the victim of circumstance.
Creating your life by design requires full ownership and total personal accountability for where you are right now. By accepting that you are entirely standing at Cause for your life, you access the ability to recognise how your moment-to-moment thoughts, words, and actions create the results you experience.
From now on, whenever you are in a situation that is causing you pain or an unwanted emotion, consciously ask yourself: 'am I standing in Cause or Effect right now?' Always get back to Cause. What you do from there on is all up to you.
(Thanks to Roger Terry, my inspiring mentor/teacher for teaching me this concept. Original influence source for this article is unknown).
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Andrew Jenkins - PDX CEO
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