{"id":1561,"date":"2013-07-31T19:03:40","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T00:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/?p=1561"},"modified":"2013-07-30T18:03:08","modified_gmt":"2013-07-30T23:03:08","slug":"ready-to-make-a-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/ready-to-make-a-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready to Make a Change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes? No? Maybe? Sometimes? I feel like a broken record as I reiterate that making any change can be hard.\u00a0 We all know that it can be more than worth the effort too.\u00a0 Some people are worn down by the \u201cfailures\u201d of their prior efforts at change.\u00a0 Others are worried about what those changes will bring with them \u2013 besides the positives they\u2019re looking for.\u00a0 And more are simply impatient for the changes to happen.\u00a0 This is why I encourage you, first and foremost, is to allow yourself to be exactly where you are in the process.<\/p>\n

Simply wanting things to be different doesn\u2019t magically make them happen.\u00a0 If only it were that simple.\u00a0 Likewise, knowing there\u2019s a process to making successful changes also doesn\u2019t solve the struggles.\u00a0 I\u2019ve found that when I can remind myself that all of life \u2013 its up and downs \u2013 are part of the journey.\u00a0 Although apparently misattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, we\u2019ve probably all heard the sentence,<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cLife is a journey, not a destination.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I apply this idea to making changes.\u00a0 There are things you can learn along the way \u2013 those rocks that trip you up, the unexpected detour off your path, the storm that hides the trail you were following \u2013 all experiences, however difficult, can teach you things and help you down the road. \u00a0If you\u2019re engaged in the process, wherever you\u2019re currently at \u2013 your patience and resilience will see you through.<\/p>\n

Again often this is easier said than done.\u00a0 Regardless, please allow yourself to be exactly where you are \u2013 as I talked about in “Are You Ready?”<\/a>\u00a0 You cannot hurry yourself into being ready, let alone be cajoled into changing.\u00a0 There are many factors that interfere with making changes and how you handle those can have a dramatic effect on your progress.<\/p>\n

Recently I talked about \u201cListen to Understand\u201d<\/a> which was directed to our interactions with other people.\u00a0 The same approach and skills applied to an inner dialogue can provide insight into what is getting in our way to making the progress we want.\u00a0 Often this is when it becomes all the more challenging to remain nonjudgmental \u2013 to tell yourself that you\u2019re just making excuses, or whining, or just stupid, lazy, or crazy, etc.\u00a0 Don\u2019t \u2013 seriously stop yourself.\u00a0 Set backs are common, to be expected even \u2013 and we can take that opportunity to learn.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re curious and questioning, you\u2019re not making excuses \u2013 you\u2019re searching, looking for what\u2019s happening in your experience and how it impacts you.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not necessarily all about the negative impact \u2013 it\u2019s about your perspective, all of it.\u00a0 In our searching to understand, the solutions might elude us for a while.\u00a0 We gain an insight here or there \u2013 move forward some and hit a roadblock.\u00a0 \u201cRawr, I\u2019m stuck (or back-sliding) again, why can\u2019t I just do it right?\u201d<\/p>\n

We learn as we do.\u00a0 The challenges we each face aren\u2019t laid out with all their facets in black and white like an assembly manual.\u00a0 We search and discover something a little deeper, hoping this will be the key to clear our path \u2013 which it likely will do for a little while.\u00a0 Then it\u2019s time to dig again \u2013 uncover more of our tendencies to reveal the next steps.<\/p>\n

Our state of mind when we reach that stage of readiness to change can be so inspiring \u2013 even exhilarating.\u00a0 The whole house needs organizing \u2013 I\u2019ll do it all.\u00a0 Yet think about what your reaction would be if someone who\u2019s not been exercising said, \u201cI\u2019m going to work out 5 days a week for an hour each time.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019d probably cringe, worrying how they might hurt themselves, and maybe that they\u2019re going to set themselves up for possible failure.\u00a0 It can be hard to take things slowly.\u00a0 To approach things methodically might feel counterintuitive to the energy and motivation.\u00a0 \u201cOh at long last I\u2019m finally ready and need to take advantage right now<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although I can guide you along the path to making changes \u2013 and caution you about some common pitfalls \u2013 this is your path.\u00a0 Sometimes we need to have the experience for ourselves.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing wrong about that \u2013 as long as you continue to move through the stages of making those lasting changes you\u2019re searching for.\u00a0 Try to keep the pessimism at bay, and encourage the curiosity \u2013 about yourself and what works for you.\u00a0 The changes you want can be achieved \u2013 with some time, effort, and patience (remember, patience comes to those who wait for it!) \u2013 I believe in you. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s more than knowing about the stages of readiness that impact our ability to enact the changes we want \u2013 so eliminate the self-criticism and embrace the process with curiosity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10,18,9,22,15],"class_list":["post-1561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personaldevelopment","tag-behavior","tag-goals","tag-motivation","tag-productivity","tag-resources"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-pb","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1561"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1564,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561\/revisions\/1564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}