Too small to make a difference

As I am in the personal development field, most of my work very naturally focuses on ways you can improve yourself, become more successful, happier, achieve your goals, live your dreams etc.  For some people this is enough.  But others want to improve the world around them and make things better for everyone else.  They begin trying and then find they do not seem to be making the difference they had hoped for and give up.  Or they don't even begin trying in the first place, believing they are too small to make a difference.

But can you be too small to make a difference?  Have you heard the saying "if you think you are too small or insignificant to make a difference you have obviously not shared your bedroom with a mosquito"?  I always chuckle when I hear that, but it is so true!  Think about it for a moment.  Such a small insect can make your whole night miserable!  I know nothing about you, but even so I can assure you that you are far more significant than a mosquito!

Have you heard about quantum computers?  Quantum physics is the physics that deals with the very, very small.  Not at a size you can see with an optical microscope but at the size of atoms or even smaller particles.  Quantum physics used to be very theoretical with little apparent practical use.  But a quantum computer, because of some of the very weird peculiarities of quantum physics, can perform tasks very many times faster than the fastest supercomputer.  Google and NASA claim their D-Wave quantum computer is 3,600 times faster, and some scientists expect future quantum computers to be far faster than that.  I have even heard one scientist claim they will be able to perform in a few minutes a calculation that would take today's computers all the time that has passed since the creation of the universe!  Imagine that!

The moral from both these concepts is that you should never think yourself too small or too insignificant to make a difference.  You are most certainly not!

If you do not see that difference, do not be discouraged.  We are all making a difference in the world around us all the time, but usually we will not see that difference.  For example, maybe you smile and say hello to someone you pass in the street, a complete stranger.  You will probably never know what difference that made, but it could be a very big difference.  Perhaps that person was feeling really miserable, and suddenly your smile changed their whole day.  They then reflected that by passing on their new happiness to others around them.  It is like a chain reaction (borrowing from atomic physics again)!  The result of that one smile could be dozens or even hundreds of smiles.  Dozens or hundreds of people whose lives were made happier just because of a very simple and brief action by you.  An action you probably never thought twice about.

You may think this sounds extreme, but it is not.  It is often the small and simple things we do that can make such a difference in the world.

Remember this while you are trying to become a better person.  Everything you do to make yourself better will make the world a better place.  Remember the quote from the Talmud which says "whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world" (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:9).  Although the Talmud is specifically talking about saving a life here, the meaning of that quote can be extended to cover all good acts.

Keep working on your self improvement, knowing that self improvement will improve the world around you in so many ways.  Congratulate yourself for every step forward you take, accepting that you have already made the world a better place, and all the steps you make in the future are going to make it even better still.

Schrödinger's Cat and the Law of Attraction

The more scientific of my friends are no doubt familiar with the concept of Schrödinger's cat, a proposition put forward in 1935 by quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger.  For those less familiar with quantum mechanics, and as a reminder for all, here is a summary of the concept.

According to quantum mechanics all possible states of a quantum system exist until an observer comes on the scene.  The observer then views one of the multiple possible states and at that point that particular state becomes reality.  Schrödinger hated this idea and put forward the following thought experiment.

Imagine you have a cat in a box.  In the box is a flask of poison and some radioactive material.  The decaying atoms in the radioactive material are, by definition, a quantum system.  This means that at any point in time an atom has both decayed and not decayed.  It is only when the box is opened and the material is observed that either decay or non-decay is crystallized.  Also within the box is a monitor that detects whether or not an atom has decayed.  If the atom has decayed, the monitor turns on a simple machine which smashes the flask, releasing the poison and killing the cat.  Ignoring for a moment the very important fact that the monitor itself is an observer which, in my humble opinion, would have crystallized the decay or non-decay anyway, according to Schrödinger if quantum theory is correct the cat would be both dead and alive at the same time until we opened the box and observed the cat.

I would like to reassure my readers that no cats were harmed in this thought experiment!

Schrödinger put forward this story in order to show his fellow scientists how absurd quantum theory was.  Unfortunately for Schrödinger, however absurd he might have considered quantum theory, the reality is that it is true.  What Schrödinger wrote as a mickey take is now a generally accepted thought experiment in quantum mechanics.

As a reminder again, Schrödinger's cat illustrates the point that all possible states in the universe exist until we observe.  The one we observe then becomes reality.  Some scientists then say that all possible states continue to exist in a "multiverse" but that our observation has caused us to enter the particular universe in which the state we observed is reality.  The proponents of multiverse theory tend to be the scientists who cannot accept the idea that God must have created the one universe in which we live, as it is the only possible alternative to this idea - but I am one of the odd few who both believe in multiverses and in God.  But whether you believe in God, multiverses, or both, Schrödinger's cat and all its implications are equally true.

Consider, for a moment, the implications this has for the Law of Attraction.  For example, there are multiple possibilities for your own future.  You could become the wealthiest person on earth, be as poor as a church mouse, or any of the possible states in between.  Which particular state becomes your reality depends entirely on which one you observe.  Focus on the outcome you want, and now recognize that your observation of this outcome has made it reality.  And this applies no matter what it is you are trying to make happen, whether it relates to wealth, health, happiness, success in a particular venture, or all of the above.

So the next time you find yourself questioning whether or not the Law of Attraction can work for you, remember Schrödinger's cat.  Make sure your observation is the right one and your cat stays alive and well!