I’ve heard it said that change occurs when the pain of staying the same outweighs the fear or resistance to change.  Sometimes getting there can be a long wait.  Pain, though, is a fantastic motivator and can inspire us to do things differently.

“Inspirational dissatisfaction” = I am so fed up or tired of _____ (you fill in the blank), that I am going to make a change in me or in my life.  My pain and dissatisfaction inspire me to break the momentum.  For example, cigarettes.  How do people quit smoking?  Once habituated or addicted to nicotine, a process begins wherein a person experiences all the natural consequences of smoking–the coughing, the diminished sense of taste and smell, the cost of the cigarettes, perhaps emphysema or chronic bronchitis. People can go on for years smoking, or doing whatever it is they do–unwilling or “unable” to modify their behavior.

Once the consequences of our behaviors accumulate and compound over time, ambivalence sets in.  Eventually, the “scale” tips, and we begin to weigh out our options.  Pain pushes us.  We test the waters of change.

What in your life is inspirationally dissatisfying?