Synchronized Swimming

Entrainment – Part 1 – The Entrainment Principle

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances,
but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”

~ Victor Frankl

Press play to hear an audio enhancement as you read.

 

All of us carry the potential to bring meaning and purpose into every circumstance, to uplift those we encounter and shine light into darkness.

It’s been said that if you truly want to help others along the path of personal growth and transformation, then shine your light on the path, not in their eyes.

That makes sense!

Big ego teachers blind you with their brilliance. This may impress upon you how great they are but it doesn’t really help you navigate your life. What we really want and need is to see the road ahead more clearly. For that, we’re better served by the guide who takes a more trans-egoic approach. They have no need for personal recognition, they are servant leaders.

Luminaries like Gandhi and Mother Theresa come to mind. Humility was a central ingredient in these sainted individuals. They lived simple lives and did what was required, one moment at a time, to help others.

We are not so different from them, at least potentially. Yes, we live small lives, most of us. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t offer the same kind of inspiration. In fact, whether we know it or not, all of us are constantly entraining others into the quality of our presence.

Flock Birds

They say that birds of a feather flock together. We might explain this on a superficial level by pointing to shared interests. But there’s also something deeper going on for us humans. We are invariably attracted to and repelled by others, depending on the similarities or differences in our energy fields.

This is explained as a powerful phenomenon known as entrainment. The simplest example is what happens when you put two or more analog clocks on the same wall, those big clocks with pendulums that swing back and forth. Before long, the clocks become synchronized, swinging together.






What happened? They entrained each other. Similarly, people do the same thing. A happy person tends to hang around others like them and they grow happier together. Conversely, when you’re grumpy, it’s easy to find allies to share and grow your discontent. In fact, they say that misery loves company!

Unfortunately, it’s become easier these days (and some might say inevitable) to be entrained by mass media into victimhood and fear. After all, we’re assailed by disturbing news 24/7. Consider for a moment: what’s the ratio of positive to negative news? Almost all of it is bad. That exerts a powerful influence, especially if we are in the habit of watching the news on television before we go to sleep.

That’s a dangerous habit, but it should be an easy one to break. Just quit doing it! But well established habits are never easy to change and just getting rid of something is an ineffective strategy because something else will rush in to fill the void.

Imagine using meditation to replace the late-night news. This is just one example of how you can choose differently and change your field of entrainment. Anyone who soaks in the quantum field regularly, trading frantic mind storms for extended moments of calm and inner peace, develops an energy field that entrains others into a similar state.

Just as poets know that the deepest meaning in their verses are embedded between the lines, our greatest contribution is not so much in what we do but in who we are, because who we are transmits through all that we do.

Floating in Pool

The journey to becoming an effective positive entrainment expert, begins with adopting a very different attitude about what’s going on in the world and Lao Tzu gave us excellent direction hundreds of years ago:

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”

We are not passive spectators when we live these words. Acceptance of the way things are enables us to flow more perfectly, to course correct as required, and help others do the same, not to fight or strive but to flow and to let reality be reality.

Was there ever a time when this kind of leadership was more desperately needed in human affairs? Surely now is the time to be inspired not discouraged and to provide what’s been missing – the entraining wisdom, kindness, and strength, of any of us on the journey of discovering a sense of deep meaning and purpose in the experience of authentic living moment by moment.



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