The Butterfly Effect
The Butterfly Effect
What is the Butterfly effect?
The Butterfly effect is a popular scientific concept which involves tiny things causing massive changes. Whilst most people have heard of "The Butterfly Effect", they don't really have a clear idea of what the term actually means and the implications of it in everyday life. The Butterfly effect suggests and proves that tiny changes can have massive consequences, and it is this fundamental concept that I wish to expand upon.
The Story of the Butterfly effect
The Butterfly effect was discovered by an American meteorologist by the name of Ed Lorenz in 1961. Whilst conducting an experiment on atmospheric convection(how the air moves) , Lorenz attempted to take a shortcut with all the graphs he was producing. Instead of starting each new graph from scratch(the procedure he was suppose to follow), Lorenz decided to simply take the figures from the middle of the previous graph, and continue the graph producing process from there. Having done this he was feeling rather good and went for a cup of coffee. On his return however, he discovered that the graph, which he expected to follow the same pattern it had begun with, looked significantly different to the original graph and original pattern. Even though he thought this to be the error of a machine , he eventually had to conclude the reason for the drastic change in the picture of the graph, was his decision to make infinitesimally small rounding off changes to certain numbers. What he had discovered of course, is that even the most seemingly insignificant change in the atmosphere can have a drastic affect upon the weather, meaning the flap of a butterfly's wing in Brazil could potentially set off a hurricane in America.
So how can I use this principle to better my life?
The Butterfly effect introduces the following possibilities.
Your smallest action could totally change your life
Your physical thoughts can permanently alter reality
Everything you do is significant
Every single thought you have fires a synapses which alters your entire brain structure
So if you allow the possibility of a butterfly's wing in Brazil playing a role in the production of a hurricane in America, it becomes interesting to consider how flapping your own wings might cause such massive changes in your own life. The best everyday example of the butterfly effect in action involves a typical work day for the average person. After sleeping in for half an hour Peter realizes he is going to be late for work. In rushing to shower and have breakfast on time he hits his head on the shower head and spills a tiny drop of coffee onto his nice white shirt. Racing out of the driveway he soon discovers the morning shift traffic, which could have been avoided by getting onto the road earlier. His work day seems to follow this pattern and he returns home tired, stressed, and frustrated. Bearing in mind the Butterfly effect you might view the cause of this whole bad day as Peter's decision to oversleep as oppose to wake up, first thing in the morning.
Of course there are more variables to take into account, but when you consider the potentially titanic consequences your actions may have, you might then view true self-discipline as a series of minute decisions, each bearing truly significant paybacks later on in the day, or month or year. I think it is easy to relate to how much more productive you tend to become after finding the will to visit the gym, which causes you to drink more water, which was one of your goals, which makes you feel better and all of a sudden your back in control of your life. Self-discipline operates according to this kind of domino effect, and all it really involves is finding the courage to make that choice which will result in a significant benefit later on, as oppose to that choice which feels good now, but makes the rest of your day and week more difficult.
