Making A Lasting Change - Part I

Making A Lasting Change in 2012 ~ Part I

It’s now nearing mid-January. How are your New Year’s intentions holding up?

Mine are doing pretty well, considering I’ve never been one to put a lot of store in such things.

This year was different though. As I stated in a previous post (and in a newsletter), 2011 was characterized by a lack of clarity. Often I found myself caught up in thoughts of what I “should do.” And, likely, because I listened to them a bit too often, I tended to feel as if my goals or dreams were lingering behind a gauzy veil that I just could not seem to see through. So I did a lot of guessing—and second-guessing of myself. Not good.

I vowed this year would be different, so after lengthy inner listening, I decided upon these 3 Vows for 2012:

• to be as open as I could to receive, not to push through

• to do only that which I loved—I mean really loved

• to create only that which brought me joy

These are pretty big Vows, aren’t they? Long story short, I am keeping them because I am really ready to keep them.

If you want to make a lasting change any time in your life (did you notice the word “lasting”?) there are 4 powerful mindsets that must be in place for us to do so.

For the next few posts, I’d like to share these with you, as well as how they are playing out in my life. I wonder if they’re playing out in yours too. And I would love to hear how they are. Or if they or aren’t—and what you’d like to do about that.

I do sense 2012 is a pivotal year for each of us. Some might say it’s the year to “@#$%^& or get off the pot.” I’d say it this way: It’s time to stop giving lip service to our spiritual journey and embody our truest selves. Embody being the key word here.  

Yes, it’s time.  The world needs our brilliance—now more than ever before.

So if you are ready to rise and shine, sisters, here is the 1^st of 4 mindsets that we can and must embrace to make a lasting change within us. Here goes:

1. Readiness

Timing is everything, and when it comes to change, we have to be ready. We must be at a point in our lives where we know deep within ourselves that it’s time to let go of anything that is not working. This can be a dysfunctional relationship, unfulfilling job, body or health condition, or any habit or addiction that has us in a stranglehold.

For many of us, we must be in a place of pain or great discomfort to acknowledge that it’s time to disconnect from the source of our agony. In her book, The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron. She openly shared about her former addiction to alcohol. It seems that as a Hollywood screenwriter and journalist, alcohol provided her with the courage she needed to write. She wrote, "If I could have continued writing the old, painful way, I would certainly still be doing it. The week I got sober, I had two national magazine pieces out, a newly minted feature script, and an alcohol problem I could not handle any longer." For her, timing was everything. Readiness was key and so it is with us; we must be completely ready to give up the old to usher in the new. Like Ms. Cameron, many of us have to be face to face with the pain we see reflected in the mirror in order to make real and lasting change.

For me, looking into the mirror of 2012 showed me all the ways that I was still stuck in “shoulding.” Shoulding keeps you disconnected from your heart’s desire—and my heart’s passion has been to write. To have an entire year devoted to writing, finishing my incomplete writing projects. Instead, I kept focusing on online projects (which is great) but my aching heart wanted to write ... just write.

Specifically books. I have not written a book since 2008 (Your Truest Self). And I have at least five books 1/3 – 2/3 written. But there they sit, my files getting more dusty as the years go by.

So I am ready—really ready—to write. And I am doing it—every morning faithfully. I love it and am very happy. I hope to have two books out this year, both on a subject I am passionate about—how to work with difficult mind-states and emotions so that inner peace can truly be ours.

The first is based on the 30-Day online course I offer: “What To Do When You’re Feeling Blue.” Its working title is Living Beyond Blue: 52 Practices to Help You Feel Glad Instead of Sad.

Let me ask this:

What are you really ready for? 

What’s burning inside you to be birthed? 

What’s tugging at your heart so strongly that you can’t say no to it any longer?

I hope 2012 is the year you are ready to say “Yes!” to yourself. 

(Stay tuned for Part II of this series: Passion) 

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New Seminar!

Free yourself from this paralyzing emotional state—Worry—with my new downloadable Seminar: "6 Steps to Living Worry Free." It's perfectly timed for the New Year and a new you! I'd love to help you dance through 2012 instead of carrying the burden of worry ... Let's lighten your load together!

Learn More

 P.S. In case you're wondering, yes, this Seminar (and more to come) is a result of my readiness, a "project" I've put off long enough ...It's done and here!