Beth's Ponderings
We are now a whole
month - hard to believe, I know - into the new year. How are you doing with your New Year’s
resolutions? That is, if you are the
type to make resolutions.
Most people, even
if they don’t formally make resolutions, do have a thought or two of how they
would like to make some sort of lifestyle change, or do something different in
their lives, or just add new adventures, as it is a new year.
We feel, since the
calendar has changed to a fresh new year, that we need to do something fresh
and new too.
There is nothing
wrong with that line of thinking, however, I recently read something that
turned the whole resolution thing on its head.
Instead of
resolving to make habit changes such as the typical “lose weight” or “exercise
more,” or resolving to make some other radical lifestyle change, we should ask
ourselves “what worked for me last year?”
By identifying what
habits or lifestyle choices did work, we can then bring them along with us into
the new year and build on them, creating more success.
We tend to take for
granted what is working in our lives, which is a whole lot more than we think
since it tends to get overshadowed by the one or two things that don’t work. Yet, by focusing on, and continuing, patterns
of behaviour that do work, and come more naturally to us, and create value in
our lives, we are more likely to phase out the habits and lifestyle choices
that don’t benefit us as much.
Humans have a
tendency to resist change - especially change that we think we “should” want,
but don’t really. Or changes that we just
“know” are going to be hard and challenging, and not any fun at all.
And by focussing on
how difficult it is to change, we end up sabotaging our efforts, and
subsequently just give up.
The only really
successful change is the one that leads to relaxation and ease, not struggle
and anguish. Thus, by strengthening our
good habits we create change that sneaks in the back door so the changes
happen, almost like magic without our knowing.
Beth
Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua21/home/February%203%2C%202017%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1
