 You're tired of how things are going in your life, and you're ready for a change. Maybe you want to start eating better and tune up your health. Maybe you want to improve an important relationship in your life; or perhaps start a new one. Maybe you're looking for more meaning in your life, and a purpose you can truly get excited about. You think about it. You visualize it. You may even pray about it. Yet nothing happens; nothing changes. Each day feels just like the one before, and what little hope and enthusiasm you had gradually drains away. Is change really possible? Yes, it absolutely is possible! Regardless of where you may be at and what you may be dealing with, change is within reach. But in order for change to take place in your life, you need to actually change something. The same ingredients will keep leading to the same outcomes. Consider baking a cake: the same ingredients, in the same proportion, baked in the same pan, will yield the same outcome each and every time. What will it take to bake something different? You could add in a new ingredient, like some chopped nuts or blueberries. You could change things up by switching to a muffin tray.  With just a small change, you can alter the finished product that comes out of the oven. But you need to change something first. Likewise, unless you change the "ingredients" you bring to your life every day, you'll continue to experience the same outcomes. Introspection, visualization, and prayer are useful; these practices can help clarify values, priorities, and goals. But ultimately, to produce different results in your life, you need to change something first. Straightforward as this is, it is not always easy. If you are discouraged, stuck in a rut, confused, or struggling with your confidence, change of any kind might seem difficult, scary, even overwhelming. Growing and Developing Your "Change Muscles" Like everything else in life, the ability to make changes when needed is a skill that can be learned and strengthened. If your "change muscles" haven't received much use of late, they'll need some work to grow and develop. Don't get down on yourself or beat yourself up over that! The key is to scale things back to whatever is manageable for you, so you're able to take action.  You wouldn't show up at the gym and immediately attempt to lift the heaviest weight there. You would start by selecting a weight you could safely lift without injuring yourself, knowing that as your strength improves over time, you'll gradually be able to lift more.
Similarly, if you want to get the ball rolling for changes in your life but you feel nervous or uncertain, start with something you can handle and use that to get things moving in the right direction. Some areas to consider and explore:
Perhaps you're unclear about what exactly you want the change in your life to look like. Or, you may have a vision in mind, but you don't know what path to take to make that vision a reality. Your starting place may simply be seeking out more information, in order to clarify what you want and the action needed to achieve it. The key is taking action of some kind. By doing so, you'll immediately shake things up and alter the trajectory you're on. Even if you desperately desire change in your life, it can't happen if you continue to engage with life in the usual way that you're accustomed to. For change to happen in your life, you need to make the move to change something. Different actions and behaviours, no matter how small, will start moving you towards the changes you want. You might be pleasantly surprised by how quickly your "change muscles" start to grow! Image Credit #1: Majaranda from Pixabay Image Credit #2: Sofia Iivarinen from Pixabay Comments are closed.
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