“Strong feelings do not necessarily make a strong character. The strength of a man is to be measured by the power of the feelings he subdues not by the power of those which subdue him.”
~ William Carleton
Cause vs Effect:
How you choose to react to an experience and your life in general will place you at ‘Cause’ or ‘Effect’.
Someone living at ‘Effect’ is simply reacting to external influences for what happens in her life. She believes she has no choice and is wrapped up in her story and the drama that goes along with it. She will have a multitude of reasons as to why she doesn’t have the results she deserves in her life.
Often there will be feelings of failure, victimhood and fear with a general belief that life is hard. All her reactions are clouded by emotion. Some people living at ‘Effect’ will even go so far as to defend and justify the very behavior that’s holding them back because the self sabotage is so strong. Being at ‘Effect’ is all about being a victim of circumstance.
Someone living at ‘Cause’ believes she is 100% responsible for what happens in her life. This enables her to have choices that are context driven. Every result is hers to own. To her, more choices equals more empowerment. With this awareness, she has the ability to move forward without fear of failure because she understands failure is only feedback and she will try something different to get a different result.
Extraordinary people live at ‘Cause’ even when the going gets tough
Being at ‘Cause’ is about letting go of your excuses, blame or denial. It is about realizing, that by taking responsibility for your results and non-results, you give yourself a far greater opportunity to change your results. Living at ‘Cause’ means owning your moods, your emotions and your responses and realizing that there is a difference between reacting and responding. Reacting comes from fear; whereas responding comes through learning, considering and then responding.
Ultimately, at ‘Cause’ means owning your emotional states and experiences and not blaming someone else for the outcomes in your life. It’s about being on fire, striving for excellence, conscious awareness, and results.
Empowering vs Disempowering:
Emotions are not random states that take us by surprise. We consciously choose to DO every emotion depending on which needs we wish to fulfill and our past experiences and choices. These emotional states either, empower us to take action and live at ‘Cause’ or they disempower us and keep us at ‘Effect.
Empowering Emotions: Joy, Gratitude, Love, Forgiveness, Happiness, Optimism, Confidence, Calm, Certainty, Inspired
Disempowering Emotions: Sadness, Fear, Anger, Helplessness, Loneliness, Despair, Guilt, Frustration, Loss, Depressed
- What disempowering emotions are you allowing yourself to experience habitually?
- What empowering emotions will you commit to feeling on a regular basis, right now?
You may be living at ‘Effect’ at the moment but you have all you need within you right now to experience the reality you want. You can change, right now, how you react to your experiences and start living at ‘Cause’.
You can choose, instantly, to turn things around through your internal resourcefulness rather than external resources. You just need to start with making a commitment and taking ownership. I encourage you to make that commitment immediately.
