The Ask Sharon column as it appeared in The Area News on Friday 7 August, 2015.
Following is a copy of the full version of the column featured in The Area News complete with the “Transformation” card from Denise Linn’s Soul Coaching Oracle Cards.
THIS week a question was submitted anonymously:
“I get to Monday ready to change my diet but by Tuesday I’ve lost my motivation and it all seems too hard. How do I stop this vicious cycle?”
I’m going to do something a bit radical this week, I’m going to address your diet question without actually referring to food or exercise. WHHAAATT?
The answer to your question revolves around this week’s card “Transformation”, from Denise Linn’s Soul Coaching deck.
The “transformation” card is copyright to Denise Linn, 2006.
German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche brought our attention to the process of change by saying, “The snake that cannot shed its skin perishes”. I’m not suggesting that if you don’t make changes in your life you will die, but do you feel like a little piece of you dies inside every time you say you’ll do something and you don’t carry through?
Consider…the phoenix that rises from the ashes, the lotus that emerges from the mud and the chrysalis that turns into the butterfly. Enough with the transformation metaphors, the point is when you decide you’ve gone through enough suffering and dissatisfaction, change can be a heartbeat away.
I recently encountered an issue where I realised I was blocking my own potential. The self-sabotaging was relentless. It wasn’t until I got to the point where I said to myself, “That’s enough, time to do something different.” Immediately, I recalled one of my favourite Dr Philisms, “The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome.” True that!
Change itself is not the enemy; it’s our attitude towards it that gives us grief. We get carried away with possible outcomes and fears that might never actualise. Embracing change can be a tough gig – it can be challenging to visualise a different life to the one you keep perpetuating week after week.
Tips on how to eliminate change as the enemy and make peace with it:
- Momentum – do you treat it like friend or foe? Harness the power of momentum and make it work for you. It’s always that first step that is the hardest. Get going, and keep going.
- Size-up your inhibitors to change and cut them off at the pass. Are you afraid of what others will think (or say), of failure or of your own power and potential?
- Remember, it’s not about wanting to throw the towel in on change, it’s about not giving up on yourself.
We all seek change in some way, and it’s just as well because like death and taxes it’s one thing we can’t escape. Inherently, we know that change will lead to a bigger, better, brighter life…the one we came here to live.
Send your questions for Sharon to editor@areanews.com.au
Don’t want to ask a question by email? Simply complete the contact form on this blog. Use the message box for your question and it will come directly to me. Only first names will be used unless you complete the form as Anonymous. Ask away…you may be pleasantly surprised by what the cards reveal.
Today’s card has been drawn from the Denise Linn Soul Coaching Oracle Cards – “What Your Soul Wants You to Know”. Image and card as well as the material quoted below from the guidebook is copyright to Denise Linn, 2006.
A little extra information…
For additional insight and meaning into the “Transformation” card, refer to the material below from the guidebook.
Card meaning: Positive changes are coming. Old structures, beliefs, and ideas are falling away and will be replaced with vitality and new pathways. Soon you’ll be seeing the world in a fresh way.
Your Soul wants you to know: Like the phoenix that rises majestically from the ashes, a big change in your life is at hand. You’re at the beginning, in the middle, or at the completion of an enormous transformation in your life. Don’t hold on to old structures and limited ways of thinking. Even if it looks as if you’re in murky waters, this is only the clearing that occurs just before rebirth. It’s all for your highest good!
Affirmation: “I am joyously centred and safe as wonderful changes occur around me!”
And finally…
A great read for anyone looking at making change work for them is a book called, Saying Yes to Change: Essential Wisdom for Your Journey by Joan Z. Borysenko, Ph.D., and Gordon F. Dveirin, Ed.D. The excerpt below demonstrates its focus:
“The art of living with uncertainty, when the old has passed away and the new hasn’t yet been born, is an essential skill central to the book.”
And if you still need encouragement to embrace change, the book Stop F*ucking Around: 30 principles for a better life, by Aussie author Craig Harper might do the trick. Craig certainly doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to his take on change…cue Principle 12: Suck It Up Princess (see excerpt below). If tough love is what you need for creating a new reality, this book is for you.
“All too often, our desire to live a comfortable, painless, easy and safe existence is the very thing that kills our potential, our productivity and our ability to create lasting change…It seems many of us are chasing some kind of transformational miracle: amazing results without the discomfort, the effort, the sacrifice or the journey. Good luck with that. The more often I get uncomfortable, the more I learn, grow, adapt, change and become a better version of me.”
