Copy
Gentle reminder: you're receiving this newsletter because you signed up at either one of Clara's events, or at Promatch. Please feel free to unsubscribe anytime :)

Hello there,

I received a question from Beth where she asked - How do I make things a priority that I know are good for me? I keep putting them off!

So I started thinking about the things in my life that I don't move towards. These doors that I don't walk through end up leaving drafts in areas of my life and, perhaps even more significantly, in my mind. Which is a distraction.

Allow me to share some examples:

  • Getting into tennis because I love to play
  • Swimming on a regular basis
  • Going to a Tuesday night meditation class

These things were all taking up time and space in my day, they kept tapping me on the shoulder and suggesting to me that there was value in my giving them attention. All open doors. And why are they open doors? They're open doors because all of them would be good for me, my body, my wellbeing.

For some reason I wasn't ready to FEEL TOO GOOD!

Until now. However it happened, I arrived at the point where I knew that walking through these doors could only enhance my life. And heck - I need the cardio to slough off the cortisol as I build this business!

Here's how it played out:

  • I posted on a social site locally that I was looking for people to play with, and now am playing twice a week
  • I found a local pool that is EASY to get to and put down lap swim time in my calendar for once a week
  • I called and registered for the meditation class, which starts in a couple of weeks!

I didn't join a tennis tournament, I just decided to start hitting without scoring. I was clear about the level of tennis I play (not that great!). I planned on twice a week, and swimming just once. Much easier than trying to play four times a week, and swimming three times - or however else I could overwhelm myself and end up quitting because it was too much of a time and energy commitment. I also did some research before moving forwards with any of this - calling the center where the pool was, finding local tennis courts and communities who might play there.

Baby steps.

Then I checked the meditation dates on my calendar, blocked them out, and moved forwards with deepening my existing practice.

What had to change to say YES to these?

I did. I had to change.

In recent weeks and months I've been looking deeply at my relationship with exercise and why I find it hard to do consistently.

I was hoping that it was wrapped around the idea of losing weight from when I grew up in England. We only ever exercised as part of a New Year's resolution because we'd drunk too much over Christmas; or right before the summer holiday so we could get into our swimsuit. The idea of movement for wellbeing has taken some time to sink in.

But here's the real deal.

When I feel strong in my body I feel stronger, more powerful in my life. And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, lay under the surface. That was at the heart of my resistance. My fears around feeling more powerful. As strong as I am... feeling stronger felt daunting to parts of me.

Thankfully, my top value is personal development so I've been pretty committed to shifting this. But it has taken years. I'm so glad I didn't give up along the way because I'm enjoying the movement so much! And I'm enjoying the added feeling of personal power. With a stronger body I notice I feel more ease because somehow I now feel safer within myself.

The things that keep tapping us on the shoulder, nudging us to listen to and act on them - are usually doing so because some part of us knows that we would benefit immensely from working them into our lives. And the stuff that's hardest to fit in, is usually the stuff that has the most benefit.

How do I make change easier?

So. Beth. Rather than focusing on how little time, or where to squeeze in these things you say you want to do - ask yourself a couple of questions:

1) How would I benefit from adding this thing to my life?
2) What frightens or concerns me about that?
3) What would need to be true in order for me to face that concern or fear and move forwards?
4) Is that possible?

And let me know where you end up. Go deeper than your schedule and you'll start to move things around internally, plus gain some clarity about what's really going on. Because let's face it... we all live according to our values. Which means if we wanna, we're gonna. If you want it enough, you'll do it. It really is that simple. Uncovering the unconscious reasons why we're not can really help to bring some good stuff into our lives. I'm loving tennis!!

As always, I'd love to hear from you - share your answers to the above questions.

Here's to loving our work!

Clara

 

If you know of any groups who would like to bring in a speaker who talks about career transition and getting back to work after lay off - let us know.
 
Copyright © 2016 Clarity Unlimited, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp