A Fractal Frame of Mind
There is a special type of pattern called a fractal
which gets more detailed
the closer you look, and gets larger and larger, the farther away you are. No
matter where you are in the range from micro-scopic to macro-cosmic, you can
see an intricate and beautiful repeating pattern.
All a fractal needs to form is a beginning pattern.
Once this is set, the
fractal can grow larger and smaller at the same time from that initial pattern
... so long as conditions remain open for growth. Once a barrier is
encountered, the pattern cannot continue and it either stops or it changes.
Look at a piece of fine woven fabric.
The strength and texture of the whole
cloth is based on the strength and texture of each thread. the thread's
character is based on its fibers, and on the fiber's tiniest strands. A
garment will reflect the character of these smallest fibers.
Watch ice crystals form on a cold window pane.
Delicate rays spread out in a
regular patterns. The patterns continue as long as no obstacles are
encountered and the window stays cold and moist. If crystals begin in two
places, they may meet, and either alter or stop each other's pattern of
growth.
And so it is with children.
As parents, we set the pattern of a child's
future in many ways. To begin its life, a child is formed from the uncoiling,
joining, and resetting of two genetic patterns (the DNA). The genes set a
pattern at that moment which unfolds as the baby grows from one cell, to a
newborn and on into puberty and then old age. A mother's womb provides a
stable environment for these genetic patterns to grow unhindered into the
internal organs, the brain, the bones, and so on. Her health can alter the
baby's environment in subtle ways, affecting the completion or outcome of the
developing patterns. And of course, home life has an equally strong impact on
the ability of a child to grow and fulfill its best ideals.
So it is with personal health.
Maintaining a consistent environment of
comfort and relaxation, combined with exercise and social interactions,
provides a good place for the body's natural patterns of healthy energy flow
and function to continue.
So, too, with personal relationships.
Minute details of a relationship -- the
"little things" -- set the patterns for growth of the entire relationship.
Global politics
-- nation to nation -- can be changed by altering a small
pattern within it. Small exchanges such as a person crossing a border set
patterns of trust or mistrust which grow into actions affecting millions.
Look closely at the things you do, feel ,think, and say today.
Remember that
these tiny events set the character of your whole life's patterns. Patterns
which will grow over time, because that is their natural tendency, like
fractals.