'All over the place' is how my life is right now. And so are my thoughts. In fact, the latter influence the former.
The very next second, a totally contradictory thought appeared--my life is on the verge of a big change; all the things I've done so far have lined up to form this event that is on the cusp of happening.
It goes to show that it's all about perspective. I can call it a mess or I can see a pattern that is leading to a certain kind of outcome. The patterns are all present, but we have to look at them from various angles to notice them.
It's also about how we choose to feel about the patterns and/or their outcomes. For example, "I'm about to be abc, xyz, and in search of a new life," versus, "I'm about to be pqr and free to make a life that I really want." Or, for example, "I've been lost and unfocused and have stumbled my way through life to get to this point," versus, "Every time I had a choice, I went with whatever was doable at the moment. At times I took the easy route, at times I used a little foresight and swam against the current, and I found that the latter took me to places that were more interesting and rewarding."
When I awakened today, the first thought I had was to write down my patterns--healthy versus unhealthy, productive versus counterproductive, useful/helpful versus useless/unhelpful. I guess each of my habits can be put into these categories (given a context) and then I can choose to replace the unhealthy/counterproductive/unhelpful ones with the healthy/productive/helpful ones over time. However, as I think about or enlist the former, the statements feel like self-beliefs and that scares me into inaction. I need to remind myself that the whole point of the exercise is to change those very self-beliefs by a constant, intentional chipping-away, until those thoughts or statements begin to resemble the latter.
So, when I think of an unhelpful habit or pattern, it is only an initial state, not a permanent truth about myself. Similarly, when I think of a helpful habit or pattern as a desirable outcome, it is an achievable state that I maintain over time with less and less effort; that too is not a permanent truth, because we fall back into our old patterns from time to time, when efforts need to be temporarily increased in some other area of life. If this is done with awareness, it is easier to feel self-appreciation and to reiterate efforts in the desired area of life.
There are certain habits, which if you focus on cultivating on a daily basis, can help almost every other aspect of life run smoothly. Health, for example, both mental and physical. If I do something to maintain my health on a daily basis, however small, it lays the foundation for me to pick up more and more tasks with greater ease. I can also better distinguish between the important versus the urgent ones and the ones that can be set aside or delegated; what we call prioritization.
Basically, making better choices lets you make better choices. (I'll be happy to be quoted on this one some day. (giggle))
And, being alone is better than being in unhealthy company. (This seemingly unrelated thought came to me in a flash as I wrote this, and it crystallized the reasoning for a very important life decision.)
(And then, I actually said this: "Thank you for the insights, self!" Super corny, I know, but hey, I did get to this point with a lot of help from myself after being inspired by other people and their stories. So there. :))
The very next second, a totally contradictory thought appeared--my life is on the verge of a big change; all the things I've done so far have lined up to form this event that is on the cusp of happening.
It goes to show that it's all about perspective. I can call it a mess or I can see a pattern that is leading to a certain kind of outcome. The patterns are all present, but we have to look at them from various angles to notice them.
It's also about how we choose to feel about the patterns and/or their outcomes. For example, "I'm about to be abc, xyz, and in search of a new life," versus, "I'm about to be pqr and free to make a life that I really want." Or, for example, "I've been lost and unfocused and have stumbled my way through life to get to this point," versus, "Every time I had a choice, I went with whatever was doable at the moment. At times I took the easy route, at times I used a little foresight and swam against the current, and I found that the latter took me to places that were more interesting and rewarding."
When I awakened today, the first thought I had was to write down my patterns--healthy versus unhealthy, productive versus counterproductive, useful/helpful versus useless/unhelpful. I guess each of my habits can be put into these categories (given a context) and then I can choose to replace the unhealthy/counterproductive/unhelpful ones with the healthy/productive/helpful ones over time. However, as I think about or enlist the former, the statements feel like self-beliefs and that scares me into inaction. I need to remind myself that the whole point of the exercise is to change those very self-beliefs by a constant, intentional chipping-away, until those thoughts or statements begin to resemble the latter.
So, when I think of an unhelpful habit or pattern, it is only an initial state, not a permanent truth about myself. Similarly, when I think of a helpful habit or pattern as a desirable outcome, it is an achievable state that I maintain over time with less and less effort; that too is not a permanent truth, because we fall back into our old patterns from time to time, when efforts need to be temporarily increased in some other area of life. If this is done with awareness, it is easier to feel self-appreciation and to reiterate efforts in the desired area of life.
There are certain habits, which if you focus on cultivating on a daily basis, can help almost every other aspect of life run smoothly. Health, for example, both mental and physical. If I do something to maintain my health on a daily basis, however small, it lays the foundation for me to pick up more and more tasks with greater ease. I can also better distinguish between the important versus the urgent ones and the ones that can be set aside or delegated; what we call prioritization.
Basically, making better choices lets you make better choices. (I'll be happy to be quoted on this one some day. (giggle))
And, being alone is better than being in unhealthy company. (This seemingly unrelated thought came to me in a flash as I wrote this, and it crystallized the reasoning for a very important life decision.)
(And then, I actually said this: "Thank you for the insights, self!" Super corny, I know, but hey, I did get to this point with a lot of help from myself after being inspired by other people and their stories. So there. :))
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