Master the Loop

Whole loopsketch

A loop, not a chain

Why the arrow from consequences back to the start is the most important line in the diagram.

Where this piece sits in the loopA loop of six steps. In the world: a situation. Inside you: a belief, which produces a thought, which produces an emotion, an action, or both. Back in the world: consequences. Consequences become the next situation, and they also confirm or update the belief.Situation1Belief2Thought3Emotion4Action5Consequences6

Most models of how we react to life are drawn as a chain. Something happens, we interpret it, we feel and act, and something follows. Read left to right, then stop.

Life does not stop. What follows from one action becomes the backdrop for the next. And every time the world reacts, it quietly votes on the beliefs that started the whole thing.

That is the arc this book cares about most. Two things travel along it:

  1. The next situation. Consequences are not an ending. They are where you stand next.
  2. Evidence. Consequences confirm or update the belief that set the loop in motion.

Draw both arcs and a chain becomes a loop. Loops can spiral up or spiral down, and that changes the question from “how do I fix this feeling?” to “where in the loop is the cheapest place to intervene?”

This is a sketch. More to come.

All writing