The Heat-Seeking Missile in Your Skull

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Imagine for a moment that you are a heat-seeking missile.

I know, I know. You usually think of yourself as a biological entity who enjoys soft blankets and tacos. But metaphysically speaking, your nervous system is a distinct piece of machinery. It is a goal-striving mechanism. It is designed to find a target, correct its course, and hit the bullseye.

Dr. Maltz called this the "Servo-Mechanism."

This mechanism is like a loyal retriever dog or a very expensive computer. It is completely impersonal. It has no morals. It has no judgment. It simply says, "Yes, Master," and executes the program.

If you program it with the data of "I am a failure," it will use every ounce of its processing power to ensure you trip over your own feet at the wedding or say the wrong thing to your boss. It functions as a Failure Mechanism.

However, if you program it with positive, realistic goals, it operates as a Success Mechanism.

Let us look at the acronyms, because who doesn't love a good acronym?

When your machinery is set to S.U.C.C.E.S.S., you operate with:

• Sense of direction: You know where you are going.

• Understanding: You see the truth.

• Courage: You bet on yourself.

• Compassion: You care for others.

• Esteem: You know you are a unique expression of the Infinite.

• Self-Confidence: You remember your wins.

• Self-Acceptance: You are okay with being you.

But when you let the ghosts of the past program you, you default to F.A.I.L.U.R.E.:

• Frustration: The brakes are on.

• Aggressiveness: Misdirected energy.

• Insecurity: Feeling small.

• Loneliness: Separation from the whole.

• Uncertainty: Fear of mistakes.

• Resentment: Drinking poison and expecting the other guy to die.

• Emptiness: Running on fumes.

Now, consider the infant. When a baby tries to pick up a rattle, he does not grab it perfectly the first time. His hand zigs. It zags. It overshoots. It undershoots.

Does the baby have an existential crisis? Does he think, "I am a failure as a human, I shall never hold a rattle"? No!

The baby uses the "negative feedback"—the misses—to correct the course. The servo-mechanism learns from the mistake, adjusts the trajectory, and zap! He grabs the rattle.

This is the divine truth: Mistakes are not failures. They are data.

Your internal computer uses mistakes to steer. If you never missed, you would never know where the target was. Yet, we adults miss a target once and decide we are unworthy of love. We take a zig when we should have zagged, and we classify ourselves as broken.

As you absorb this, you will find that the more you read my emails, the more success you will have in reinterpreting your so-called "failures" as mere course corrections. It is a liberating shift in perspective.

I know you are busy, and I am grateful for having clicked the links in my email to spend this time with me. You are taking the helm.

But there is a Ghost in the Machine. There is a Master Program that dictates whether your servo-mechanism wakes up and chooses violence or chooses victory. It is a picture you carry around in your pocket, usually without knowing it.

Tomorrow, we are going to look at that picture.

When was the last time you treated a mistake as a helpful piece of data rather than a judgment on your soul?

Best,

Bradley Woods

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