default settings

We are all used to our devices – laptops, computers, smartphones and now even our cars, fridges and other ‘smart’ appliances etc. having factory default settings which can then be reprogrammed to our personal preferences once purchased. The only problem is whenever anything goes wrong, the device often reverts to its original settings and we then need to reprogram it all over again, hopefully remembering what our personal settings were.

What many of us do not realise is that each of us also has our own personal default settings.

As any parent only knows too well, we are not born a blank slate. We ‘come in’ with our own predispositions, personalities and characters. It is the old debate of nature or nurture and it is most definitely both. We are born with certain propensities and then the real purpose of life is to work with those inclinations to elevate them to more desirable outcomes.

However, as in any quest, the first essential and most important step is to recognise and acknowledge those presets are there. Just as we are born with biological givens – size and shape of our body, eye and hair colour, skin hue, vitality and stamina and a host of other physical characteristics, we are also born with inner psychic presets.

Moods, temperaments, mindset, attitudes, aptitudes and so on. We are born with a host of inner and outer default settings. This is where you naturally go, particularly when things go wrong. It is your default position. Are you naturally optimistic or pessimistic, positive or negative, joyous or melancholic, loving or grumpy, critical or accepting, enthusiastic or depressed, determined or defeatist? On a numerical scale of the victor/victim continuum, where do you stand?

Where do you inevitably go when life gets hard?

You cannot give what you do not own. You cannot change what you do not accept. The first step in any AA program is acknowledgement. For it is only then that you have the power to transmute.

Whether we like it or not, we are creatures of habit, and those habits require immense effort to change. But it can be done, and successful people are those who can conquer and change their habits and default settings. Victims remain at the mercy of their inner inklings blaming fate, destiny, the world or their upbringing.

It is all about agency. Who has agency in your life? You or your past? Whenever you drive a vehicle, it is all about steering, which is change in direction no matter how subtle. Having your hands firmly on the steering wheel, being in control of your destiny, being the navigator of your path is the secret to successful and joyous living.

I call this living with conscious awareness – making conscious choices about who and what you want to Be. The only limits in life are those that are self-imposed. A large part of the source of infinite energy, vitality and love of life is this ability to continually transmute, change and break through these barriers. To become the next best version of yourself. To become more of who you are.

And that is an infinite progression!