Too often we look to the world around us expecting change. In reality, purposeful and meaningful change starts as an internal process. The first step toward making changes is to create a practice of self-observation. This practice is difficult, as we either let ourselves off the hook, expecting others to change before us, OR we guilt and shame ourselves into changing (think of all the times you force yourself to exercise or to not eat something you want). Our critical and judgmental pieces tell us we ‘should’ change and this creates a split internally. It is more difficult to change when you are forcing yourself to do something. The antidote to this split is to take the critical and judgmental voices out of the conversation. This is achieved by taking a detached, almost scientific, self-observation of oneself. The simplest way to start is to look back at a recent event and observe how you acted (both internally and externally). What were you thinking? How did you feel? What was the story you were telling yourself as the event happened? Where did that story come from? How could you have acted differently? What would that take? To be able to step back outside of ourselves and observe in a non-judgmental way creates new opportunities for growth and development. – www.rhoadscoaching.com
Finding meaning and purpose in daily life