Adapt Yourself to New Realities

To solve a problem systemically is to change yourself to a different way of living. Exploration makes you adapt in response to your new experiences. Without the vital trait of adaptation, you will become defensive against new experiences. Adaptation is necessary for continued growth. You will inevitably discover things that counter your prior self. Adaptation is the doorway to becoming more, not less, in response to difficult experiences.

Wherever you go, do not wear your past like a leash. In every moment, you can reset yourself to neutrality. Examine each circumstance as though you had spontaneously popped into existence right there and now, with no previous assumptions about how you should act. What is the first thing you notice with your awareness? Are you in any pain or discomfort? Do you perceive any immediate threats to your safety? Does anything within or around you require your immediate attention?

When you practice this instant return to neutrality, you can quickly clear away the clutter that lingers in each moment and prevents you from reacting to how things are. This is only possible if you are willing to forget what you think you know. Old ideas create haze to cloud clear vision. Listen to the silence around you, watching one by one as every little voice inside you pops up to tell you what to do or how to feel. Now make the critical decision to silence certain voices and give a stage to certain others.

Adjust your standards to a minimally functional state. This will make you internally resilient to attack. As long as you have something to lose, you are vulnerable. You are a house of cards that threatens to topple when environmental conditions change. The principle of adaptation is your rooted foundation: the calm eye in the storm. You must not be afraid to give up the superficial things you think define you. They are your masters. Anyone with a master is not free to be himself.

In any new situation, deduce the changes you must undergo to get from where you are to where your environment requires you. Begin with the smallest, simplest changes, which have the greatest derivative impact. Investigate how basic physical principles work now. What new information will you need to integrate to be functional here? Notice every time something works differently than you expected. Alter these expectations one by one until your map updates to the newly observable reality.

Move on to your body next. Analyze what physical abilities you lack to implement the new knowledge you have acquired. Is it a matter of raw physical strength? More likely, it is some fine motor skill you are missing. With practice, you can train yourself to manipulate objects in just the right away to get what you want. You can use your body and its limbs in specific ways for a specific outcome. Perhaps, all you need is to acquire a tool that already exists for transforming your present physical abilities into a new type of physical output.

The exceptional person masters his environment by first mastering his mind and body. Soon, his influence is greater than that of the external conditions around him which once demanded that he change. Now he makes the demands. Now he decides how things ought to be. Adaptation is how he implements his refined judgment. He knows what is appropriate in any circumstance, when his strengths suit his needs, or when they work against him. Ultimately, the greatest form of adaptation is collaboration with other exceptional people for the unique strengths they embody.