Connecting the Dots: Reading Life's Radar Chapter - 18
Connecting the forward dots might just be the path leading the way
Understanding Life's Dots
Dots are ethereal bytes of information, and it's remarkably easy to connect them when looking backward. Dots, events, ethereal bytes of information, incidents—they are all manifestations of the same thing.
The term "connecting the dots" refers to us linking sequential events, like assembling the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. This connection reveals the path that traces how we arrived at our present position. Look back on your life. It's fascinating to see how the dots connect, revealing how events materialised. What’s truly incredible is looking back, to how a tiny event turns out to be a huge turning point for us.
It's essential to recognise that these dots were present at the time we carried out each action. This becomes evident within your journal-keeping, as explained in Chapter 15. If the dots weren't evident, we couldn't connect them. They were there, but we couldn't perceive them. It's like two radio stations transmitting simultaneously. We tune into one and hear only that signal. Tuning into both stations would only confuse our senses. We'd end up comprehending nothing from either broadcast.
The Radar Screen: A Window to Awareness
Consider the radar screens you've seen, whether in person or in movies where a ship's captain or air-traffic controller monitors the display. We often see a sweeping arc detecting objects—anything from an incoming missile to a collision hazard in the vessel's path. The captain must avoid all obstacles considered hazardous to the vessel. By doing so, the ship continues on the path of least resistance.
While radar screens don't display exactly what each obstacle is, knowledge gained from past experience helps identify likely possibilities.
Our mind operates remarkably like a ship's radar. We stand at the center point of our personal radar screen. This radar-like mind would have been vital to our survival in our hunter-gathering days. Even today our lives still depend on how we react to what appears on our screens.
Signal vs. Noise: The Modern Challenge
Remember the imaginary book title from the previous chapter: "Why Every Millionaire gets up at 5am."
That title implies a simple secret to success. It's nonsense. Of course, not every millionaire sets their alarm for 5:00am. But they do engage their high-powered radars throughout the day, staying tuned to their environment. They amplify their radar's power and direct their minds toward the future. They become sensitive to the slightest dot representing future possibilities.
Successful, happy people resemble the captain of a vessel with thousands of hours of experience—wisdom that tells them which dots deserve focus and which to ignore. In today's world, we face constant bombardment with noise and distraction. From the moment we wake until we lay our heads down at night, our radar screens overflow with high-energy static noise. Many of us no longer pay attention to our screens. We're not even aware of our radar or how it functions. We've surrendered control to other forces.
Reclaiming Your Radar
The path forward lies in reclaiming control—an exciting prospect.
To connect dots going forward, we must reactivate our radar. We need to pay closer attention to the dots on our screen, these ethereal bits of information. We are both transmitters and receivers of these signals. The skill you'll develop matches that of the experienced ship's captain.
We must determine which dots apply to us and assess their potential impact. You develop this skill by practicing attention, first to yourself and then to your radar screen. Like the captain, you need to evaluate possible impacts and engage in the "what-if" game. Ask yourself: "What if I change direction to avoid this dot? Will that dot change direction to impact me?"
Developing Radar Proficiency
You already possess the ability to read certain dots on your radar screen. It might be someone you're trying to avoid or a conversation you'd rather not have. Sometimes, no matter which direction you take, you cannot escape an incoming dot. In such cases, you must face the situation directly. The more you avoid it, the more interference clouds your radar, limiting your vision.
Remember, dots can manifest as anything—from a single word to natural phenomena. We learn valuable lessons from our environment when we maintain control of our radar. When you detect something likely to impact you, it demands your attention. Your task is to become a professional radar interpreter.
Creating Your Future Through Awareness
As dots appear on your radar, you must determine whether they lead toward or away from your goals. However, radar reading holds little value without first establishing the future you wish to create. Studying your radar without knowing your destination proves futile. You can't evaluate a dot's relevance without understanding its relationship to your objectives.
Your dream, your vision of your ideal future, creates both that future and the route to achieve it.
The moment you create your future vision, you activate the means to realise it. Within days of heightening your environmental awareness, you'll begin receiving clues about interpreted from the dots on your radar screen relevant to your future. These signals relate directly to the goals emerging from your purposefully created future.
The Self-Perpetuating Cycle
This process works in a circular fashion.
Your created future generates your goals.
These goals, once achieved, shape your future.
This self-perpetuating positive cycle generates a powerhouse of natural energy—the visionary force of our intelligent universe.
This isn't new territory. You've been plotting your radar throughout your life. We can trace every condition of our current existence back to its creation. Every thought, feeling, and emotion has been projected outward and returned in solid form.
Protecting Your Radar
The public mind craves meaning, often satisfied by those who benefit from producing compliant consumers. When you become conscious of the public mind—the consumer mind—you gain protection from its dominance. Your shield is awareness and observation. You must become consciously observant of the public mind.
By analysing the groupthink of those around you, you'll notice how the masses often neglect their radars. The general public's mindset frequently dwells in confusion and fear of the future. Their analysis rarely deepens beyond reacting with a groupthink mentality. People observe others' actions and mirror them, seeking safety in conformity.
The public mindset operates at the surface level, reacting to events which are themselves reactions of others. The masses rarely engage in analyzing their radars or their environment. You, as a life-enhancing value creator, can transcend this limitation and, consequently, achieve extraordinary success, happiness, and wealth.
In this chapter, we've explored another way to reflect on your journey: by connecting the dots from past to present, I've shown how this process helps create your goals. We now return to the subject of use-value, introduced in Chapter 5, to explore how a use-value approach to your identity can enhance your success.