How tiny meaningless choice can induce long-term changes in life or the butterfly effect of choices

Butterfly effect: Did you know that a single butterfly flapping its wings can change the climate or how a single choice can induce long-term changes in your life?

Here is how paying attention to small details can result in excellent control of oneself. This blog will give you a clear explanation of what I have been referring to as patterns between choices we are aware of and unconscious choices. If you haven’t read “Mapping of choices” the first blog to this; you can read it later on this website in order to gain more perceptions

Understanding life on its microscopic scale helps us to know the big “WHY” of how things are the way there are. Since what comes outside is from the inside, we unfold from our choices. Don’t be tricked by accidents or luck, I am not saying that luck does not happen but again the hard work you put in is sometimes the luckier you get. There is always a cause-effect relationship between what is manifesting in real life no matter how absurd or confusing it is.

Normally, the butterfly effect is used in understanding the very chaotic/random systems such as the weather forecast and climate changes. Where it is impossible to know all the possible initial conditions of the system, e.g: the initial possible conditions of the environment that result in wind, typhoon, or tornadoes (we do not have such catastrophes in Rwanda but I will explain what they are).

Basically, the wind is the result of the change in temperature between regions; the wind blows because of the difference in air pressures. For further explanation, the wind blows anti-clockwise around the low-pressure area in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere, this is the effect of the earth’s rotation which produces a force called Coriolis that deflects the wind from its path. For most violent tornadoes to occur it is when warm, humid air collides with cold, dry air. The dense cold air is pushed over the warm air, usually producing thunderstorms, the warm air rises through the colder air causing an updraft of speed that ranges from 420 to 512 km/h. That’s how the tornadoes are formed and a typhoon is known as a hurricane in the pacific. The hurricane happens over the water body and can last for weeks while tornadoes happen over land and can last hours.

Considering the information of how the wind blows can give us an idea of understanding the butterfly effect even though the butterfly effect explains more than that. In chaos theory, a branch of mathematics that deals with complex systems whose behavior is highly sensitive to the slight changes in conditions, so that small alternation can give rise to strikingly great consequences, the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.

A typical example of these slightly small changes that can result in consequences in a large system, was found when Prof. Lorentz was making calculations relating to the weather data in order to understand them. He first ran the weather model on his computer and gives him a chart but when he rounded off few digits in his equations, the results were unexpected due to the difference in both charts, he then realized that few changes in the initial conditions of the weather can result into a big change, to sum up, his findings from the experiment he said that “a butterfly flapping its wings result in tiny alternations in earth’s atmosphere and will consequently cause a typhoon in a distant place”. For example, if the butterfly is flapping its wings from Beijing and the distant place can be Kansas. It is like saying that if it is flapping its wings in Rusizi and after a certain period of time that tiny alternation in climate can cause a change in temperature which can result in a strong wind in Musanze or Rubavu (some districts of Rwanda).

Though this concept of the butterfly effect may sound like a far-fetched idea to understand; let’s just consider the information in the above paragraph to help us understand our choices.

Don’t be intimidated by the science behind it, remember that what is new to you, tomorrow can be a common sense or intuition that comes to you naturally. The butterfly effect can be used as a good way to look at life, in a world of choices, which tends to be in chaos--very random at a distance, one tiny or single choice you make has something to do with you in the distant future which is yet to come.

Consider this example, a single choice you made unconsciously; yeah, you heard me well--we can unconsciously make choices, to clarify “these may be the choices you make and you are not aware of them” maybe because they are indirect to the actual choices or may arise in the patterns of the choices you made. Because every action is produced in the chains of choices we make as we have seen that every single choice carries its own packets of advantages and disadvantages. As a photon of light carries its own packet of energy to make up a ray of light, the same mechanism is applied as well to our choices. A choice carries its own power which adds great momentum in your ongoing series of making more choices to make up the life you want.

A tiny alternation in daily choices can have a big impact on the future. When I first read this theory, I found it fascinating because it shows an obvious picture of how very small insignificant changes affect the whole system maybe not directly but it adds some alternations. This applies to life as well, since life is simply a series of systems. Some people assume life is random, spontaneous, or unpredictable but the patterns exist everywhere. A small insignificant choice you may not consider can result in either a big mess or a win, or in a completely different life.

Life is made up of choices, a single choice you make affects your future, little by little sum up to big results. We can look at this with rational reasoning like--in a political way, in a sense that life is what you make up for yourself in order to avoid the expectations that “the kind of life you want is going to find you rather than you creating it”. If you buy this truth to be more logical on very small things like the choices you make on a daily basis can help you to be the kind of person you always want to be as you will be very sure or at least that what you are about to do can result into something that will lead you to your visions, priorities, and the kind of life you want in general. I am not saying that this is the only legitimate way to look at life, but it is one that can give a reasonable whirl by saying this I refer to life as a complicated set of choices, by which the ones you choose make you who you are.

Consider the typhoon that is caused by a tiny butterfly to be two things: a typhoon that can represent bad consequences and a typhoon of good things. Take a typhoon like a big thing that happens after a while, good things that will/can happen to you due to the consideration of a series of small positive choices. To simplify this e.g.: if you are sacrificing your time now by narrowing things that make you happy and drag all that energy to focus on your projects or work, or simply on your dreams, in a matter of time it will result in something you did not expect because you went all in. Here the greater chances are that you get luckier as you put in more hard work.

Consider all that focus as butterflies which are flapping wings to survive as it can be in real life that can be like: you can be forging yourself to be something else, then in a distant time, to mean the future, you get to realize that your focus is paying off the debts, that is a good typhoon.

You can see a good typhoon which is happening now in your life, that is to say, you focused on your studies and now you have a good job. You focused on your marriage and now you are enjoying it because you did not choose to commit adultery. You may be earning some good money because you tried to establish good connections and building your reputation. A good typhoon is like those good times you enjoy because you really did work hard to be there. You can see similar examples in your life, take time and reflect to recall them and thank yourself to be that hardcore in your past, and keep it that way.

If there can be good times due to the series of small positive choices there will be as well bad times that will be caused by the series of bad choices. All those ignored choices that seem to mean nothing to you at the moment, contribute to the way you see things, talk about things, and the way you live. Remember every single choice carries its own consequences no matter how much you ignore it; it is power and power manifest itself.

We may all face hard times at some point in life because of those little choices we did not consider. The butterfly effect can be used to explain the spectrum of choices, and it provides you a window to look at life while the intention is to understand how small considerations in the process of making choices are of vital importance. And another important thing is that it gives an insight into how choices look like and how we are our choices.

Let me stir this pot for you a bit more, the fact that you are alive, healthy, and able to read this is literally a miracle. Do you realize what had happened for you to be born, the chances to come out like you? The odds of you being born as you are about 1 in 400 trillion, or more. Studies show that it is no longer the strongest or fastest which reaches the egg-- on the contrary, the egg gets to choose by releasing compounds called “chemoattractants” that can trigger the sperm to change swimming/spinning directions by attracting or repelling sperms of its choice. Keep in mind that each mature egg and sperm contain different DNA and here you are, customized in your own particular way different from anyone else. Literally saying, any small change in any egg preferences could have resulted in a completely different person as you see your siblings.

We have power over our choices, if bad tornadoes are manifesting in your life take full responsibility and change that by considering good conscious choices, that’s the good thing about life. It is very flexible in this manner as long as you are ready to give what it takes. We practice being brave from the failures we had in the past--pain nourishes your courage, you took chances and made mistakes, that’s okay and that’s how you grow, no one is on the wheel but you.

Do not be tricked by the whole image of a situation in your life if you do not understand it to assume that things will work out by themselves. Visualize the patterns between what is happening in relation to your choices, you will get to know why you are succeeding or failing, why your marriage or relationship is going well or failing, you will see why you have those attitudes, you will see how your business is failing or making its way up.

Use this butterfly effect in your spectrum of choices as a lamp to reveal what has been hiding from you. Your lamp will be much brighter as you pay more attention to the patterns between real-life situations and your choices.

Feel free to ask any question

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