I've always been thrilled by the feeling of a plane taking off. No matter how often I fly I am amazed by the experience of the plane barreling down the runway with increasing velocity until it reaches such speeds that it begins to lift off into the sky. That feeling of becoming airborne, of the momentum of takeoff, is nothing short of incredible. But I have to go no farther than the local soccer field or basketball court to witness the power of momentum. As a spectator of many high school sports over the years, I find it fascinating to witness how powerful momentum is on the field. Sometimes all it takes is one goal, or basket, or home run, to completely change the energy of the game and send a team that had been struggling to score, to ultimate victory.
But momentum can work in the opposite direction too, the kind that spirals downward and makes you feel stuck in a rut. I have certainly seen this momentum at work in the lives of some of my patients, and at times, in my own life. It can show up in the form of procrastination,
anxiety, stress,
depression, loss of motivation, hopelessness, or other insidious forms. Momentum of this sort can be quite powerful too, making it harder and harder to move forward. Sometimes it can feel more difficult to take that one step forward than to do nothing at all.
It can be helpful to take inventory of the ways in which momentum has shown up in your own life, creating both downward and upward spirals.
Think of a time when you were in a downward spiral? What helped you to move out of it? Think of a time when you experienced the effects of positive momentum. What actions were you taking that helped to perpetuate the forward motion? I notice with myself and my patients that inaction, whether due to fear, or procrastination, or depression, or self-doubt, is usually behind most downward spirals. There are often things that we can be doing to get ourselves out of a rut, to help ourselves feel better, but we aren't doing those things.
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