Here we are again at the start of a new year. Although it’s a somewhat arbitrary point in time, depending on what calendar you observe, it provides us with an opportunity to see things differently, to change our “lenses” . . . to take an honest look at our lives.
Every year many of us create lists of “should’s” or “want to’s”, often repeating the lists of previous years. But what is it that we really are seeking in our annual attempts to improve ourselves or enrich our lives? What is it that interferes with our sense of well-being and calm?
I’m sure that from the outside it appears that we all have different aspirations and goals. Some of us would like to drop our habit of procrastination. Some of us would like to drop our tendency to be compulsive in our behaviour. Many would like to find more meaningful work or avocations while others would like to have more free time, time to just do nothing. There’s a continuous flow of self-help books that seem to address each of those wants and needs. Many of them, however, look at our experience from the outside, imagining that if we change our behaviour we’ll feel differently. While there’s certainly merit in changing our habits, unless we address what’s behind the habit we are relying only on willpower.
What’s truly at the root of our discontent or sense of needing more? What keeps us from making some of the changes that would lead to our sense of well-being? Why do we so often fall back into our old ways that no longer serve us?
According to Sydney Banks we’re all just a thought away from well-being . . . from living in grace and calm and gratitude. We need only recognize when our thinking is leading us away from our well-being into personal thinking. When we’re able to catch ourselves taking life too seriously or personally, we can let go of the thought and move into a more neutral place. We can see ourselves as the creator of our experience and see, too, that we can choose another perspective. To many that may seem, at first, to be an overwhelming task. To others it may seem like an almost childlike oversimplification. In truth, it’s neither. It’s a simple yet profound description of how we function and how accessible our innate health is at every moment.
The answer, then, is to change our thinking. If we continue with the same thinking that we have had in the past we will continue to experience the same outcomes.
Thought –> Results –> Feeling –> Behaviour
This simple diagram explains the above. Same thought, same feeling, same behaviour, same results. Change the thought and watch what happens.
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