One Thing Changes Everything
"Each day is a new opportunity to make one change for the better. The blessing is that at the end of each day we have the opportunity to try something new tomorrow." – Kaari Allen
Our reliable friend Merriam-Webster Dictionary has the simple truth on change[1]:
to become different
to make (someone or something) different
to become something else
Don’t those options sound good? And yet we don’t learn a darn thing until we change our behavior. By simply doing something differently we gain information, a better way to live our lives, or something that adds joy and fulfillment.
My latest simple change happened last week before yoga class. Our instructor told us to pick up our personally placed yoga mats and be ready to move. What? I know, can you believe it? This one threw me for a loop!
Speaking for myself, I always sit in the same place in a classroom or church pew, or even park in the same spot at work or at the mall. After I had a mini-hyperventilation moment, our instructor then told us to meet someone new in class and physically trade places with that person.
I love what he said next; “If we change just one thing in our lives, we change EVERYTHING in our lives”. A different perspective, new awareness of something or someone, can open windows of change that promote learning a new thing, like when we rearrange the furniture in our homes, switch up the kind of cereal we eat, and change out the throw pillows on our couches - or heaven forbid, park in a different area at work or at the mall.
In our lives, no matter what arena we are in, whether our sales or our lives are up or down, we have CHOICE. Our brains have the amazing capacity to take in information, make sense of it and then apply it in the moment. This is called our Working Memory.
So, can I tell you the big-little change I am making in my life? It is hard, but I am really trying to slow down the pace at which I move throughout life; not only racing through Target, but the world as a whole. I think we are simply missing too much if we don’t.
There are so many choices to make each and every day in the way we approach not only our professional lives, but our personal lives as well. How cool is it that we have the choice each day to slow down and explore our current modus operandi. I know…I know it’s a challenge, but I encourage you to change one little way of doing ANYTHING each and every day. Ask yourself - is the way I always do things effective, productive and fulfilling? Am I missing the juicy things in life that make it much more flavorful and worthwhile?
[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/change