Starting Anew
Posted on December 17, 2012 by Kyre Adept, One of Thousands of Spirituality Coaches on Noomii.
If you could start your life anew, would you? How would it be different?
Here we are coming up to a new year, and many people are thinking about the changes and improvements they want to make. However, the first of January is not the only day we think about making a fresh start, complete with new goals and (hopefully) a reboot in perspective.
You are already renewing yourself every day, week, month and year. In the human body, your liver cells are replaced every year, brain cells last seven years, and skin cells are replicated every week. From a physical perspective, you are born anew every seven years. Some of us cycle through several different careers in the course of 40 or 50 years spent working. If you keep your mind flexible, you will constantly enjoy new thoughts, thinking, emotions and decisions. Most people find their entire outlook changes according to their stage in life. Entire cultures renew themselves over time – some of them quite rapidly.
The American culture has an interesting tension between tradition and ‘new-ness’. We want to stay connected with our traditions, and at the same time we want the next fad or fashion – we want to re-invent ourselves as bigger, better, richer, happier people. Those are great goals, too: we are here to be happy, productive, loving and successful. However, if you don’t know who you truly are, we will go with what others expect you to do. This will keep you stuck in the built-up patterns of the past; you cannot start anew because it’s a tough to move beyond your established comfort zone.
The world is changing fast, so you‘re being nudged out of your comfort zone anyway. Now, you can protest, call on your religion, family, culture or tradition to hold back the tide, and/or get knocked over by the tsunami. When there is a tidal wave, many of us thrash around even though we know rationally that relaxing is more likely to help us stay afloat.
I live on the West Coast, where there is lots of surfing. When a big wave comes by, the surfer gets into position to skim over the top of the wave and pick up acceleration as they ride the slope. Successful placement means you move forward with remarkable speed and exhilaration. The bigger the wave, the better the experience; with practice, you are much more likely to have a successful run. The trick is to anticipate the wave and be ready to ride it.
The same is true of renewing and refreshing your own life. What waves are coming your way? And how can you position yourself to take advantage of the most beneficial wave for you? A surfer chooses to be out on the ocean with a surfboard; what are you passionate about?
What would your life look like if you could start afresh today? Take a minute and think about that. What would you add, change or delete? What are your dreams, and what would it take to bring those in? What did you always want, as a child? What would be the equivalent now?
Get some mental pictures of your ideal life, then begin by changing your small choices. Once you see the results with less significant situations, it’s easier to change larger parts of your life if that becomes necessary. Also, look at sailing a boat: if you make smaller course corrections sooner, then the accumulated change of direction mounts up pretty quickly.
We create from pictures, so start by creating a quiet space in your life to allow new images and plans to inspire your decisions and directions. Quiet times without agenda are like putting new blank pages in your notebook; what you write or sketch is up to you. Draw on your dreams and daydreams; look at films, magazines, websites that make you feel happy or inspired. What would make you happy, calm and fulfilled?
Write a word picture of your perfect life. Include the patterns of your daily life, what you’re working on, your perfect clients, what you do for recreation and refreshment, how you eat and sleep and play. Make it full, vivid, and in the present tense. Read your description a couple of times per day, and let yourself feel your way into that new reality. Your vision and emotional energy together is the fastest way to create what the new life you desire.
Now, what steps can you take right away to bring you closer to those pictures? Find some small steps that will take you in the right direction. Then get out your calendar and pencil in specific actions that bring your dreams into your life.
The most vital part is to give yourself time, space and permission to create a new life that suits you better and that will let you ride that tidal wave into the future. Wheeeeee!
