It’s not enough to know. Knowing is the first step but it’s not enough. It’s not enough to know that you are repeating past patterns, that you are having obsessive thoughts, or that your life is spiraling out of control. You have to DO something about it.
Knowing what you have to do is the second step. But that is NOT good enough. How often have you sat with the knowing? How often have you thought about your should list? Thinking about changing your life isn’t enough. You have to do something about it.
The doing doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be. Our lives consist of levers, scales, and balances. If you want to eliminate something, you need something else to take its place. Negative thoughts & patterns will rule until they are replaced by positive ones. If you have too much drama, you must focus on actively creating peace.
The only way to bring light into our lives is by literally bringing light into our lives. We know that there is no way to stop eating bad foods unless we replace them with good ones… otherwise, we’d starve. The same is true for our mental and spiritual health. If we want to have good in our lives, we have to bring good into our lives.
So, how do you start the process? Start here.
Meditate. I’ll admit that I’ve pussyfooted around this issue because it makes people uncomfortable. Well, get over it. Sitting in silence with ourselves can be very uncomfortable, but until we start, we’ll never be able to release our negativity. There is too much jumble in the world. Too much static. To see clearly, we have to allow ourselves to let all the mental junk food go. And most likely, we’ll only have a moment or two of true silence between thoughts – but amazingly, this works wonders and brings peace instantaneously. And then, like the high from a run, meditation can become a place that we love, bringing us to a safe place.
Affirm. Keep your focus on what you do want… gently. This isn’t about closing our eyes and willing something to happen. We aren’t practicing magic. We are simply trying to replace negative thoughts with good ones.
Release everything. Release your timetable. Release your expectations. Release your judgment, your guilt, your pride. Release it all. Yes, we must replace our dark places with light, but if we want to fill our lives, we must empty ourselves first. Release and let go. Consciously give over your (imagined) control of everything – your finances, relationships, career, health, other people … everything.
Take responsibility for yourself. This means taking care of yourself in every way. This does not mean attempting to control everything in your life. You are releasing that, remember? This means meditating, affirming, releasing, and then going towards the life that you want. Do what makes you happy. Again, this doesn’t have to be big… it could be journaling, playing an instrument, spending time with a child, running, or taking a class. Or it could be writing your novel. The point is, don’t just think about it ~ do it.
You are the only person that can make you happy. And the only moment is now. Stop thinking. Start doing.
