By Dolores Day
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the now the primary focus of your life.” — Eckhart Tolle
This is not another read on the importance of New Year resolutions or an inspiring new year post to help stress the importance of goal setting. Mostly because I know that this beginning-year ritual has created an unhealthy pattern that has led many of us no closer to our goals. It may even prevent us from cultivating and harnessing the real power that is found in the NOW to make lasting changes.
The idea of starting fresh and new is idealistic because in our mind we are moving beyond the past year’s trials, tribulations and reminders of what we did not accomplish. Indeed, there is new found hope that can be found.
However, don’t we get offered a new day to start again with every passing morning? Isn’t it true that every day is a gift and a renewal?
We needn’t wait for a specific date on a 12-month calendar to inspire us to make lifestyle changes or wait 11 more months to try again.
I believe the best time to begin anything new, add a new healthy habit, or adopt any new practice is Now. Right now! Right in the moment we are generating the idea that this might be just the thing we need to do in order to live our best life. There is strength, energy and excitement to be found during the very ancestor of our thoughts. If this is how we begin to condition our brain, imagine how the act of procrastination slowly begins to wean from our habitual patterns. We must acknowledge that we may not get to January 1st at all and if that would be the case, why would we have wasted so many days postponing life when we could have used those days to gain momentum in the direction of our goals. We all wish to achieve what our life has to offer. We all want to feel good and live our best life.
However, the very act of waiting to take action seems preposterous when all we really have is right now!
The most powerful thing you can do is make a decision to change. Take personal responsibility and make a commitment to yourself. Not to others but to your best self! Make the commitment NOW to show up as your best self, to live your best life, and to make the most of the gifts you have been born with.
Commitment is the secret sauce! It may seem scary but when we commit out loud and say yes to life and say yes to living the best version of ourselves, something changes. It is as if we awaken our real self that has been asleep within. Until then we have been living a life of the ordinary. But to live a life of the extraordinary we must do something different, something extra. We must show up different for ourselves daily, consistently. It’s not easy but it’s worth it. It’s worth it to live a life that we love. And it never happens by accident. It happens because one makes a decision either out of desperation or inspiration to change, improve, and grow. Don’t wait for desperation. Don’t wait for a new year day. Let the best self that is already within us hear our commitment and take immediate action!
So go ahead, take the walk, sign up for the class, meet in the new group, write down a new grocery list that excludes processed foods and sugar, and create a new branding plan for your business. There is never a better time than right now. The power exists here not in the future. It is begging for us to take full advantage of every day and use the energy that exists in the moment to do one baby step, one small action, however little it be to accomplishing our desires. After all, these daily satisfactions we receive from the little tasks are the reward.
The statistics of people who wait until the new year and fail to complete their goal to start anew are staggering. Why become one of these statistics? As this year continues and every day you are given expands, let us change our mindset to use each day to its fullest by taking advantage of the NOW.
Tomorrow may not be here. Yesterday is for sure gone for good. But the now, this is where our power will always come from. We needn’t wait for a new year, only a new day to add, however small, something new, that will push the needle just a little bit closer to living our best life.
(De Day is an Empowerment Life Coach. Connect more on Instagram @de.day.love or at www.de-day.com.)
Author: Dolores Day
- Tags: Dolores Day, Mind Body Soul