Saturday, February 1, 2014

Inertia & Forces of Comfort



The concept of Inertia, as we know, is fundamental in physics. Newton described it as:

The vis insita, or innate force of matter, is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to preserve its present state, whether it be of rest or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line.

I think, Newton got it right when he said “everybody”. 

For mortals, I’d like to introduce the concept of ‘forces of comfort’ – which are the unknown forces that act on your body and mind, to bring it to a known state of comfort.

I’ll start with myself and this blog. The last post (How to kill a good idea) before this was written on 1st  March 2011.  It was a good post and I got a fair amount of online and offline comments appreciating the writing. 

At first I enjoyed the appreciation and then I got busy, i tried to beat my previous best and so on!  A few months passed by and Inertia set in!! After that, every passing week and month, Inertia was bigger and harder to fight. I tried several times, over long weekends and 16 hr flights – but the thoughts just wouldn’t flow. There was always something else that I found comfort in.

The forces of comfort prevent us from creating a change and show up in different forms. Here are some I could think of, this morning:

  • Comfort of familiarity: I know this place/people/routine, I’m comfortable
  • Comfort of knowledge: I understand it, i'm comfortable. 

  • Comfort of Inaction: If I don’t do anything, It probably stays largely comfortable.
  • Comfort of minimal satisfaction: It’s not really great but I’m comfortable because i'm OK.
  • Comfort of busy-ness: I’m so busy, i don’t have time to bring a change in what I do. 
Today, I’m trying to break the Inertia for myself. Let’s see if I can fight the forces of comfort and continue writing and create a new inertia, where i feel uncomfortable if i don't write. 

Wish me luck!  and please share forces of comfort that you experience.

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