Choices

I have read so many self-help, self awareness, self-improvement books and newsletters about how to accomplish your goals, and I understand the idea, but actually being able to put the lesson or the message into action requires understanding on another level. For me, the true realization of what something means happens in a moment when I least expect it – like washing dishes or taking a shower. Hmmm…water usually seems to be involved. Anyway, I had one of my sudden understandings the other night while cleaning the kitchen after dinner. Even though I thought I understood the steps to accomplishing a goal, I realized something on another level – something that may actually have an impact on whether or not I succeed in accomplishing my goals. It’s simple; it’s sweet and makes complete sense to me. When making choices, we often choose what we want in this moment, not a future moment. To succeed, we have to make choices based on what we want in our future.



Example:


My goal is to be more fit. More fit means to exercise more often. In the present moment, I don’t feel like exercising - I don’t have time – I don’t really want to exercise – I can exercise tomorrow. If I make my choice from the present moment, I won’t exercise. However, if I make my choice based on what I want in a future moment, it might help me push past the present moment's “I don’t want to” and focus more on “I want that. In order to have that….I have to do this”.


In a nutshell….stay in the present, but make choices on what you want in the future. I have been exercising daily and for longer periods of time. Will I accomplish my goal? I think if I continue to make choices based on what I want in future moments, I will. And if I apply the same principal to choices I make about relationships, business, diet, you name it, what will happen? I think I want to find out.

I actually wrote this about a year ago.  I was able to maintain that for a few months, and then I got busy with projects and it was easy to listen to the voice that said "I don't have time to exercise. I have way too much to do."  One thing led to another and before I knew it, exercise was not in my reality. 

For the past few weeks I have been exercising again.  I'm also trying to do other tasks that I often put off - like bookkeeping. It is so easy to reach for an excuse to not do the things we don't always enjoy.  However, once again, if I think about what I want or don't want in my future, maybe I'll hold true to my intentions.  So....we'll see how it goes. 

Resistance

Several months ago I bought a new computer with Windows 7. Initially there were some issues networking this computer with our other computer that was operating with Windows XP, but I kept hoping that I would be able to determine the cause and correct the problem. That never happened.

Week after week, another problem would occur with one program after another. I continued to search for corrections and help, but each week the problems would worsen. I was becoming more and more frustrated by the day. I upgraded Windows 7 to the Professional Version - No Improvement. The programs I need and use everyday for my business were hanging up and shutting down. I could no longer print. Perhaps it was a printer issue. I bought a new printer. The new printer did not work on my computer. Weeks, days, hours, minutes had been spent trying to correct the problems.

I knew a System Restore might be the solution, but I had been resisting that course of action for weeks. After all, I would have to start over….save all my documents to another drive, do the restore and then load all my programs again.

Last week, I became aware that I was fighting against what was. I was not in acceptance of the moment. I was in total resistance and I had to stop - take a breath - and just get over myself. Resistance was only causing me more pain, more frustration, and more delays in getting work done. I chose to accept the fact that there was a solution - just not the solution I wanted. I embraced a System Restore and began the process on Friday. It took me 3 days to get everything done, but I now have a computer that works again. It even networks with the other computer without problem.

What did my resistance get me? Everything I didn't want. The old saying "what you resist will persist" - well it does! My lesson in all this is to try to be more aware of my resistance to WHAT IS and embrace WHAT IS with acceptance. I don't have to like it, but I don't have to fight it or resist it.