The Lghtwrkr
Live With Intention

Words 2013

Moving On 1.7.13

Howdy,

We tend to go against what is in our best interest way too often… don't you think?  We choose what tastes good over what is good for us.  We choose to be unhappy with what we spend most of our time doing for the few hours to enjoy what that misery affords us financially.  We refuse to look at things that are unpleasant for fear they might change the way we do what we do right now, even though we could help stop the unpleasantness if we just looked, if we just paid attention.

Change requires a call to action.  You have to do something in order to change something.  As a whole we seem to be a pretty resistant bunch.  But, is it just fear of the unknown?  We know what we do day in and day and changing that might tear a hole in the fabric of the universe, right?  No, but that is how we react when we have to let go of something that isn't serving us anymore.  That thing that we are giving up, letting go it of can sometimes become the most traumatic thing ever, in our minds.  We are creatures of habit, and habits are hard to break.

A habit can be a relationship, a job, a behavior.  Habits are whatever we do consistently, a regular tendency… and doing something besides what we regularly do is a huge deal, even when we are no longer in need of the habit to bring something beneficial to us.  We will still do something that has negative results, even after we know that the results aren't beneficial.  Often we get comfort out of our habitual behaviors.  Comfort in routine, familiarity, the known.  The benefit is not being afraid of the effect of whatever it is that we are doing, whoever we are with, wherever we work.

I used to eat potato chips like my life depended on it.  In actuality my life, at least the quality of it, depended on me giving that up.  I LOVE potatoes and I used to eat them until I couldn't breath.  Some call it binging, for me it was comfort.  I could and would eat an entire bag and be just fine with all the fried greasy-ness that were potato chips.  There was a point where I realized they were my downfall, my gateway foo.  So, I stopped buying them.  I just was tired of feeling like I wasn't in charge.  I could no longer continue to eat that way knowing it wasn't helping me reach my personal health and well-being goals.  I cannot remember the last time I had them and feel like my life was changed in a lot of ways by letting that behavior (which was very, very old) go.  The best part is that I don't miss them, which is counter to what I would have imagined before letting them go.  I was ready to move on.

Of course, one of the secrets to moving past anything habitual is that you have to be ready, you have to want the change more than you fear the change.

When was the last time you looked at your life and pushed through what was routine to find out what was helpful?  You asked the hard questions and faced the answers.  When was the last time you let something go that had been a 'part' of you?  How were you motivated to do it and where are you in that process now.

Good luck in growing, changing, becoming… it  will happen whether you lead the change or not.  The universe doesn't support stagnation.

xo

a

Aina Oyewole-Williams