Ever notice how life seems to happen in patterns? A familiar challenge appears, an old situation resurfaces, or you find yourself standing in a place that feels strangely recognizable.

Sometimes there’s a sense of deja vu or “Here we go again.” Often our negative feelings and emotions start a spiral of our thoughts and actions pulling us progressively downward.

But there is another option, a more constructive way. As the seasons of life come around, realize the cycle isn’t flat or linear because you’re not the same person you were before.

Heraclitus said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.” Even when things look the same on the outside, we are not the same on the inside.

The second time you read Scroll IV, you are a different person than you were the first time you read it. And now that we have changed the reading to be entirely in the present tense, it brings additional awareness.

Growth isn’t about escaping repetitive cycles, but about using them as stepping stones. Each experience carries a deeper lesson, and each lesson lifts us a little higher. Life may bring us back to familiar ground, but we never arrive as the same person.

Like going up a spiral staircase, the key is to keep our focus upward and onward. Each step doesn’t seem like much of an advancement, but as we persist, we will see that we have come back around at a higher level. What once felt like idle repetition now feels like refinement.

The key is to keep our DMP ever before us so we intentionally advance to higher levels until we reach our goal.