How To Deal With Change

Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.
William Somerset Maugham

Some like it, some hate it, but it is the one thing we can all count on, so why not embrace it…Change.  The world we live in seems to keep evolving and accelerating at an ever faster pace.  It can be very challenging to try to keep up with its rapid dynamism.  It’s small wonder why we often feel so tired or overwhelmed.

Ego and Fear

“We must go beyond the constant clamor of ego, beyond the tools of logic and reason, to the still, calm place within us.”

Deepak Chopra

What is ego?
“Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud’s structural model of the psyche; they are the three theoretical constructs in terms of whose activity and interaction our mental life is described.” Bing   

Overcoming Habits and Addiction

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world…

as in being able to remake ourselves.”

Mahatma Gandhi

 We all understand cause and effect. Life is a give and take, a push pull, a polarity of opposites, what goes up must come down, etc… So too is the cycle of our thoughts, actions and choices.   We wrote previously about beliefs, how they shape our thoughts and how both affect our choices. To understand how a habit or addiction is formed, we must understand the cause and effect of each step. The cycles goes something like this:

How Our Thoughts Effect Our Bodies

“Everything is energy and everything in the universe has a vibration.”

“Vibration is life. Giving of life is giving of love.”

Dr Masaru Emoto

 The Power of Thought

 We have talked a lot about the power of the mind and our thoughts. And for good reason, our mind is one of the most powerful tools we have and our thoughts determine our reality. Learning to consciously use our minds and thoughts, to create the life we desire, is the first step to making a change and to achieving lasting fulfillment and happiness. Luckily it is not too complicated. First we create awareness of the power and ability of the mind, then we practice consciously directing our thoughts, as a result we start to feel good and lead more fulfilling lives. Practice makes perfect. But what effect does it have on our body?

Acceptance, Resistance and Motivation Require Balance

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.”

Serenity Prayer – Reinhold Niebuhr

Tug of War

When we evaluate where we are and where we want to go, it is easy to see how we could be confused. At one end of the spectrum they say, we should be motivated and consistently work towards our goals with maximum effort. Then on the other side, they say we should accept where we are and be satisfied with it, in order to find happiness. How do you do both? Drive and momentum seem to oppose contentment and passivity. 

Flow

“The miracle of gratitude is that it shifts your perception to such an extent that it changes the world you see.”

― Dr. Robert Holden

How Far We Have Come

Let’s take stock for a moment and appreciate just how far we have come. We have talked about bringing meaning to your life through your value and creativity. We have talked about committing to the process and mustering the drive and tenacity necessary to achieve happiness and fulfillment. We have talked about using your internal compass, your feelings, to identify the right path for you. We learned about creating cognitive awareness by managing your thoughts. We talked in great length about how to identify your strengths, which then become the value you add to humanity. And most recently we covered core beliefs, the subconscious programing that has been quite possibly sabotaging  our efforts up until this point. We covered a lot of ground in the last two weeks and we discussed a lot of challenging topics. I can appreciate how much effort it takes to do the work. It took me years of practice and persistence to really start seeing a change. But it doesn’t have to take years.

How to Identify Core Beliefs

 “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”

― Henry Ford

The power of belief

We’ve all heard the old adage, knowledge is power. This is only partially true.  Knowledge, also known as awareness, without belief lacks potency and passion, ambition and commitment. Knowledge alone is not enough, we must believe.

Change Is Not Easy

“Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but…life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” Gabriel Garcia Marquez