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Build your snowball! - 31st December 2020
There can be no doubt, 2020 has been a terrible year for many people.
What about 2021? Would you like to feel better this year?
Over the years I have come to realise that the more I focus on my own wellbeing, the better experience I have of life. This might require more effort in challenging times, but it does still hold true.
It's not easy to keep our attention on our internal landscape. There are so many distractions and opportunities to be pulled into drama, anxiety and obsessive behaviour. Escapism seems attractive when you feel low or worried. More time spent on your phone, more time on social media, more time watching TV, more time shopping, more time when you are taken right out of yourself. The ironic thing about all the distractions is that they don't really help. As soon as you have a quiet moment the sad and anxious feelings are right back again.
So many of us were brought up to ignore how we feel and to focus on other people instead. Any kind of introspection or self-care was to be regarded as selfish. I want to dispel that belief now! How can we be at our best if we never pay attention to our internal state? How does being at our worst help our friends and family? Or even the strangers with whom we interact? Who deserves the worst of us? Nobody!
End of year reflection
I would encourage you to consider how you have cared for yourself in 2020. Might you have been your own worst enemy on occasion? We all do it, but once you notice this habit, you can begin to be more kind. Rather than remembering events from 2020 and what happened, remember how you felt. Could you have felt better by following your deep inner knowing, rather than acting out of habit?
New Year aspirations
Whilst it's not possible to wave a magic wand at the beginning of 2021, your choices and actions, your thoughts and beliefs, all make a huge difference to your experience of life. I know this from my own practice. If you need a reason for change, why not use the New Year to consciously choose a different path in every moment?
Build your snowball!
Making a good snowball is not an instant job. You start with a small handfull of snow, you compact it, then you add a bit more and repeat the compaction.
In the same way, the changes you seek can be built gradually. Begin by noticing your own behaviour. In any moment what can you do to feel better? Just keep asking yourself this question, many times a day. In this way you begin to plot a better course. This simple question will get you tuned into your inner landscape. You will begin to notice how certain actions have a negative impact on how you feel. It might feel quite liberating when you realise you have far more choice than you ever realised. Also, that "no" is a perfectly acceptable response to certain requests and questions!
A buoyant and more robust version of you will mean that you begin to enjoy life so much more. Remember the snowball. You have to gather the snow to begin with, but if you push it down a hill it will get bigger and better! The better you feel - the better you will feel!
Work with me
I have a free to access Private FB group, 'Declutter, Release, Let Go!' which is a safe space for members to share challenges and successes with both head clutter and home clutter. If you join the group you will get invitations to a variety of online events all of which are designed to help you feel less overwhelmed and more like yourself.
If you would like one-to-one support with your head or home clutter, please send me a message.
Keywords: new year, anxiety, beliefs, habits, head-clutter
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