This is the phenomenon brought to light by Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point, about how people and ideas and movements become contagious when they reach a certain mass and momentum which not be as big as we think, but is significant:

‘the very idea of a tipping point centres on the long term impact of relatively small groups adopting new ideas and behaviours’.*

These tipping points are “out there” in the macro-world of groups and organisations, but can they also be found “in here” in the micro-world of an individual, when we intentionally live each day so we may reach a tipping point in our own belongings, believings and behaviours?

I’ve mentioned before how we overestimate what can be achieved in a day and underestimate what can be achieved in a lifetime.  When we embrace the longer journey, things begin to happen.

Often, how we think about and describe our lives disguises their reality, maintaining the status quo: if we can somehow ignore or be oblivious to reality then we can get on with life as usual.

To see if this is so, here’s a reality game you can play at any time of the day in a few moments.  Infinite games (which is what this reality game is) shake things up:

‘ceaseless change does not mean discontinuity; rather change is the very basis of our continuity as persons’.**

Find a place where you can sit comfortably for a few moments, feet on the ground, hands resting by your side or on your knees, with eyes closed.  For a moment or so, bring to mind moments from the past 24 hours when you have powered up or servanted up to those around you.   Perhaps you have wanted to get your own way or think someone has made a mess of something, and you take pleasure in it.  Or maybe you’ve put yourself out so someone else could do what they wanted or you have encouraged someone because you want them to feel better about themselves.  Then be aware of your breathing, sense your breathing in filling your life with good things and breathing out the toxic; breathe in the word humility and breathe out the things it gets rid of for you.  In a final moment, be aware of your surroundings and imagine breathing out humility in words and behaviours.^

Do this towards a tipping point.

(*From Peter Senge’s The Necessary Revolution.)
(**From James Carse’s Finite and Infinite Games.)
(^There are other words which can be attached to the breathing which I’ll share sometime.)