Graveyard Spiral

From the desk of Transporter Editor Reed Hollinshead:

In most situations, the threat is external. But in a “Graveyard Spiral” the threat is internal — you can’t trust the message you are giving yourself. The wound is self-inflicted.

Aviators flying at night run this risk. Because they can no longer see the horizon line and adjust the plane’s position based on that visual cue, their brain sends error-filled messages that generate actions that produce this death spiral.

The pilot mistakenly thinks their wings are level, but in reality they are banked right or left. The plane banks and then begins a descent, but the pilot thinks is a wings-level descent, and they pull back on the yoke, which tightens the spiral they are already in. As they descend faster and faster, they pull yarder on the yoke, which only further tightens the spiral and hastens the impact with the ground.

Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.

When I was in my late teens, I hopped on a motorcycle that was way too powerful for me. When it started to accelerate too rapidly to control, my impulse was to twist my wrists back toward me and tighten my grip — totally counterproductive.

If you jump in a vehicle and choose to speed, then get caught, and argue with the cop about your speeding, you've triggered a self-inflicted wound twice in one trip!

If you habitually overspend and refuse to adhere to even the notion of a budget, the resulting money problems are a self-inflicted wound.

They are everywhere in life — opportunities to make it worse by our own actions.

Similarly, when finding or articulating our own unique value, our inner dialogue or impulse can get in the way. Many of us had modesty and humility drilled into us from an early age, so it feels foreign to contemplate our value, much less put a voice to it. But we all have it.

We all have something unique to offer — the difficult part is to identify what that is and realize that your unique gifts can be especially valuable by filling the void where someone else’s gifting leaves a gap. In fact, it often takes the accumulation of the giftings of several diverse people to adequately fill that gap. But you can be one of the pieces.

The first step is to identify your unique value. You may have physical skills, or you may have limited skills and abilities in the physical realm. But you may instead have other skills you can bring to the table — your brain could be an asset. Or boldness. Or courage. Or compassion.

The grass may seem greener on the other side of the fence, but it is greener where it gets watered the most. When gifts are cultivated.

Dwight Bower, ITD's director for most of the '90s, used to warn against grabbing the arrow from out of the air as it passes by and plunging it into your own heart. There are enough slings and arrows sent at you each day. No need to add to the onslaught yourself.

The Graveyard Spiral, like any wound, is not inevitable — by the very definition of "self-inflicted," you hold the power to avoid it. Rather than working against yourself, spend that time cultivating your unique value. Then be willing to share it.