About 10 months ago, I decided to challenge myself to solve the
Rubik's Cube. My intention was not to find the actual solution, but merely to learn how to solve it in a reasonable amount of time. With some daily practice, it took me about 10 days to learn how to solve it. I can now solve it in less than 10 minutes.
Although this article was inspired by the Rubik's Cube, you don't have to know how to solve the cube, to enjoy this post. The main goal for this blogpost is to help you find balance in life, not to teach you how to solve the cube.Choices.A scrambled version of the Rubik's Cube raises a lot of questions. Questions about fear, doubt and disbelief. The unscrambled version of the cube also raises questions. Questions about possibilities. When solved, the cube seems peaceful and balanced. The difference between the unscrambled and the scrambled one is choice.Think about your life for a moment. Can you remember all the details, all the choices that lead up to what you are experiencing right now?
If you can, then you are living a conscious life and every choice you made so far has been important enough to remember. Most likely, you will understand how your previous decisions have contributed to your life. Your choices will have been purposeful, focused and as a result, you feel balanced. You will feel grateful for the past, because it is the stepping stone that enables you to experience your life how you experience it now.
On the other hand, if you can't remember the decisions that made you into the person you are today, then you're probably living rather unconsciously. The details of the past will be vague, because your choices will have been less controlled. Instead of being able to look back on a clear past, your previous experiences will seem rather blurry and confusing and as a result you feel rather unbalanced and more or less uncertain about what is to come next. It will be more difficult for you to figure out how you ended up in the state you're in right now.
Choices create order or chaos. They either scramble you or solve you.
So how do you experience your life at the moment? Does it feel like you're in control of your choices? Or does it raise a lot of scary questions? And what does that tell you about your state of inner balance? Are you consciously making choices and becoming balanced... or do you feel more or less unbalanced, because the choices you are making are unclear?
Finding Balance.The number of intelligent choices to make, in order to solve a Rubik's Cube are not infinite. Considering there are 43 quintillion possible versions to make with a single cube, there are actually very few moves to make, in order to solve it.Solving the cube requires making intelligent choices. You can recklessly twist the sides of a Rubik's Cube, but your chances of solving it that way are close to impossible. In life, this approach delivers the same results. When you choose to rely on hope or random luck, then you are simply giving your power away to circumstances. Instead, take responsibility for what is to come and acknowledge your capability to take matters into your own hands.
Look Inward, Not Outward For The Solution.Even when someone gives you the solution, you can still fail to apply the solution and fail to solve the cube.You can look outside yourself for a solution to your problems, but even when someone tells you exactly what to do, then you may still fail to position yourself into a situation that feels more balanced.
Others can help you to walk a certain path, but at some point down the road, you will encounter obstacles you can't overcome. They can only show you the road they took and tell you about their experiences down that specific road. So if you decided to take a side-road or were tricked into believing there is a quick and easy shortcut to a new and improved life, then you may still be lost and looking for a way out of your situation.
When this happens, the solution is to look inward and to realize that the first step towards increased personal balance is to...
Accept Your Truth.When you scramble a Rubik's Cube for the first time, you come face to face with a harsh reality: that you have absolutely no clue how to fix it. There is no certainty you can twist it back to its original state. The only certainty you have, is that you can accept the responsibility to unscramble it.Becoming a more balanced person begins with believing that you are capable of transforming yourself in a different state and that finding balance is possible, no matter how complex the situation you are in. Even if you feel a sense of fear or hopelessness, realize that anything in your life can scare you. So the worst thing you can do is to put your problems aside and delude yourself into thinking you can escape them.
The truth is you can never fool yourself that way. You simply cannot avoid your problems. You cannot reject the truth, by sticking your head in the sand, and expect your life to change. Every experience becomes part of your memory in an instant, therefore it becomes an undeniable part of who you are. This also means that, on a subconscious level, everything you experience continues to exist inside you, until you decide to bring it into your consciousness and deal with it. So there is no point in trying to avoid the reality of your situation.
To accept your truth means to admit the truth to yourself. It is taking a long hard look at yourself. It is dealing with the reality of who you are. It is not running away from the situation, because you didn't want it to be this way. It is taking responsibility for your actions and realizing that you are the person who got yourself in that mess. When you embrace your truth, you don't fight it nor do you complain about it. All you do is acknowledge the way it is.
Accepting your truth is a crucial first step to restoring inner balance, because it allows you to find peace in knowing that you're already aware of your problem, even when you don't know how to deal with it just yet. It is the only place to start from, that allows you to make better decisions. By accepting the reality of a situation, you will feel better about yourself, because it immediately gives you a sense of control, which makes you feel more balanced...even when your life is still completely messed up.
Once you have accepted the truth, the next step is to...
Find The Right Perspective and Set Clear Goals.In order to solve one piece of the cube, you not only have to determine which piece, you also have to look at it from the right angle. You have to find the right perspective, before you can make a move.Finding out your specific perspective matters, because without a clear idea of what is wrong, you can make all the right moves, suggested by the smartest people on this planet and it still won't make a significant difference.
Only you can know exactly what is wrong. Find out what it is and be specific about the problem you're facing. What state are you in? What is it that's creating this feeling of unbalance? Which piece of your inner puzzle feels out of place and where does it belong?
Solving the cube is a methodical, step by step process. Each solved piece of the cube builds upon the other, until the complete cube is solved and balance is restored. Start with achieving one goal and gradually build your success on top of your previous victories.
Making Intelligent Choices. When a piece of the cube needs to be moved to its original position, it can only be done by being smart about it. When you make intelligent choices, then you are being mindful of all the other pieces of the cube as well.So how can you make a move to create more balance in your life... without messing everything up even more? The solution is to focus on multiple aspects of your life, not on the one aspect you're trying to change. Take in account the fact that everything in your life is connected, like the basic structure of the cube and that you cannot change one aspect without affecting all the others in the process.
For example: when your current income strategy is flawed, then your solution may be to work longer or to get an extra job. But before you go down that path, think about how that will affect everything else? What will it do to your social life? To your health?
When a change in one aspect of your life has the ability to make other aspects of your life suffer, would you still consider it to be an intelligent solution or should you look for a different approach? In case of the job example, then perhaps the solution would be to find a job that is better aligned with who you are? A job that allows you to express yourself better? A job that contributes to your personal health, your income,...
If a decision doesn't affect your life in numerous positive ways, can you then define it as an intelligent choice to make?
Repeat.We often neglect the first steps, because they are easy, but more than often they are the foundation for our overall success.When I learned how to solve the cube, I first learned how to solve the bottom part. When I knew how to solve the bottom part, I moved on to solving the middle layer, and so on. Before I moved on to solving the next layer, I made sure I could solve the previous layer by heart.
Big personal changes require conditioning, discipline and dedication. Although accepting your truth, finding your perspective, setting goals and making intelligent choices are essential, the key to long-term change is still hard work.
For example: you don't gain 20 pounds of muscle fast by going to the gym once a week for half an hour, mainly to sit on an exercise bike, peddling at the lowest possible resistance level, while focusing on the overhead TV's. You become stronger by going more than once a week for an extended period of time, using a lot of commitment and the willingness to break a sweat.
The amount of iterations and the intensity of your efforts are absolutely crucial to change. So don't be afraid to ask yourself what your actions are telling you about your level of commitment. If your actions aren't making much of a difference, then maybe you have to be more focused and dedicated to your goals or simply... show up more.
Nurturing.When I had my Rubik's Cube for 3 months, I had solved it at least 200 times. By then, solving it was no longer a challenge. So I wanted to know how long it would take me to forget how to solve it. I decided not to pick it up for 2 months... 60 days later, it took me a little longer to solve it, but I still managed to twist all the pieces back into their original position. I don't know how long it would take me to completely forget how to solve it, but considering this, I'm guessing it would take quite some time.
Although learning a new skill may be very time consuming, the ability to use that skill will stick around for a very long time as long as you continue to nurture it. But remember, bad habits are also skills. They are simply skills you don't want. So if you have had a bad habit for many years, then it will be a part of you as long as you continue to nurture it. Once you stop feeding it with your energy, it will slowly fade away from your consciousness.
You Already Have Everything You Need.Each side of the cube has the potential to be the same color, but it also has the potential to be a unique pattern of colors. The configuration of the cube is a potential. It never really changes, it only appears to change.You don't really change either. You can only rearrange what is already there, so everything you need to succeed and to create balance in your life, already exists inside of you. Even if you're not using your courage, discipline, willpower,... you still have those qualities in you.
There Is No Quick & Easy Solution.Even if you have a brilliant mind, you simply can't look at a Rubik's Cube and solve it. Too much energy is wasted by people who allow frustration to get the better of them, when they are trying to get to a new personal destination. Rushing things simply leads to making mistakes and can recreate that feeling of unbalance, which leads to disappointment. Sometimes you have to slow down in order to reach your destination faster.
After all, the point of personal growth is to be accurate and to make conscious choices to restore the order and balance in your life... not to be
fast
