Help!
It’s Another Year!
Out with the Old, In with the New!
This year, 2014, I celebrate not what I want, but what I got rid of!
For it was in letting go of the old that the new had a chance to come in!
Think about it, if your closet is cluttered, how do you find room to add anything new, besides stuffing it in, where it often just gets lost with the old.
The same is true with life.
Something or someone new may come into your life, but if you are functioning in your old ways, a new way will be lost in the clutter; hence a missed opportunity.
Clutter isn’t just the material stuff hanging around, it’s also the emotional and spiritual stuff we tend to hang on to, often not even aware of, which blocks us from experiencing anything new.
So…if you truly want NEW, you must get rid of the OLD, dusty garments that just don’t fit you anymore! It’s time they come out of the closet! OLD habits, OLD addictions, OLD behaviors, OLD words, OLD thinking, OLD relationships.
It’s not always simple, but the first step is admitting you don’t like how these garments make you feel anymore when you put them on.
OLD HABITS: Are you buying the same old junk food instead of making a homemade meal, eating a bucket of ice cream when you get depressed, hiking the same old trail, driving the same old way to work, stopping at the same old store on the way home?
OLD ADDICTIONS: Are you still smoking, maybe just when you have a drink? Drinking too much? Watching TV until you fall asleep, attracting the same old relationships?
OLD BEHAVIORS: These are often learned, so they are harder to identify, let alone admit to…do you tend to blame others instead of taking responsibility for your actions? Are you quick to get angry instead of communicating, jump to conclusions, have the need to be right and make the other wrong? Feel a sense of entitlement? Perhaps, you tend to isolate instead of calling a friend when in need? Maybe you have a challenging time saying I love you, or I am sorry?
OLD WORDS: These are tricky, because often they are so embedded in our mind, we are not even aware of the damages. We either THINK them or SAY THEM out loud…I was with my friend’s kids over the holidays and they were looking at pictures when they were ten years old, they are now thirteen or so, and they kept saying how ugly they were. It just broke my heart. What are we teaching our children about outer appearances? I looked at what they thought was ugly and saw beauty in their braces and that childhood youth. I really wish that was one word that never left our tongues.
What words do you say about yourself or about others?
I love what my yoga teacher taught me:
“Don’t say anything unless it’s true, necessary and kind.”
OLD THINKING: The only way to know what you think about yourself and others is to first LISTEN to your thoughts; they never shut up! I didn’t get the part because I wasn’t pretty enough, thin enough, good enough, young enough. I should have gotten that college degree. If I would have stayed married, gotten married, never married…LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN!
It’s not true! It’s not necessary and it’s not kind! It’s learned and it needs to be taken out of your closet!
OLD RELATIONSHIPS: This was my biggest weakness. I attracted the same kind of man, hoping he would be different. It took a lot of pain before I realized that the man I invited into my life mirrored how I felt about myself. I am writing a book about this and can’t wait to travel with it!
This year instead of wanting more, let go of more so you can get more than you ever expected.
Happy NEW Year!
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