The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new” – Socrates.
How often do you feel stuck? Like you’re going round in circles, or you keep trying and struggle to see any progress? Sometimes, we try to stay positive, try to work harder, try to be better…have you ever considered that we’re accountable for keeping ourselves in these cycles? Not because we genuinely don’t want to see and create a different path for ourselves, but because we’re still carrying the past with us.
Releasing your Self from your past
When we keep holding on to the pains of our past or the older version of ourselves, we sit in energy that keeps us stuck where we are. When we keep living in our past decisions, experiences, flaws, mistakes (never been a fan of that word) and generally in regret, it means we’re not focusing our energy on the change we want to embody or create.
What is change?
Change is modifying. Change is altering. Change is about bettering. Although, change doesn’t have to be about improving – it could simply be about something different to what currently is.
Routines wear out
Do you have a daily routine? Your morning routine, or your commute to work, your lunch, what you do after work, or even perhaps a bedtime routine?
The issue I have with ‘routine’ is that although I’m a fan of discipline for success and achieving goals, I’m a bigger fan of changes and adaptability (without sacrificing my integrity).
Do you ever feel like you’re so set in your way – your routine, that there’s little or no room for change, adaptation or flexibility? Perhaps, you’ve spent years nailing your routine to ingrain it into your day that it’s hard now to make changes or see your Self in a different job, relationship, environment?
Sometimes, we fight so hard to hold on to what we’ve worked for, whether that’s your career or a relationship that we get stifled by these routines. And, ultimately, we block ourselves from new experiences, from growth and expansion, because we’re desperately trying to hold on to our routines. We subconsciously lead ourselves to believe that we are our routines.
Whilst we spend our time and energy focusing on the current routines (or series of routines we’ve created for ourselves) and therefore want to naturally protect and defend them, we lose out to continuous growth, evolution and creating newer, better versions of ourselves because our focus is on the thing (the routine, the job, the relationship) we’ve already created, instead of how we can improve and grow to create something newer to get to the next level.
Life is change
To live is to grow, evolve and better ourselves. If we stay in the old – the thing we’ve already created and mastered, rather than to focus “…all of [y]our energy… on building the new” we’ll fall into the trap of repeating patterns and cycles, or feeling unfulfilled by our own stagnancy.
So, when you focus on the new, the upgrade, the improvement or the different path – you’ll find letting go of the old easier, gentler, more in line with the rhythm of your Soul. You’ll find that there is less resistance created by your Self in wanting to hold on to the old because there is a vision for the new. You give your Self a new focus.
Why do we resist or fight change?
We resist and create subconscious blocks because we’ve dedicated time, energy and emotions to the ‘old,’ the current, the as-is. We falsely feel that this is who we are – it becomes a part of our identity and we become attached to what we’ve created, where we’re at, when in actuality we’re just passing through this phase.
Unless, of course, you’re truly happy there and in which case, stay there for as long as it suits you. Though, do keep a feel out for the call of your Soul – you’ll know it’s time to move on, evolve and expand when you begin to feel dissatisfied or unfulfilled. Then, you can start working on focusing your energy on your next phase – the newer version of your being.
If you’re focusing on building the new, then you’ll release your Self and free your energy from trying so hard to hold on to what you’ve become so far and accept that it’s time to change again.