Posts Tagged 'personal change'
Oh, the comfort-
Published August 7, 2012 Mental Health Issues Leave a CommentTags: personal change, personal growth, therapy
You too can find this quiet understanding,
Quotes for Intentional Living – 5/14/12
Published May 14, 2012 Quotes for Intentional Living Leave a CommentTags: famous quotes, finding happiness, inspirational quotes, intentional living, personal change, quotes, quotes for intentional living, quotes to inspire, tips for contentment
Quote for Intentional Living
“Abundance is, in large part, an attitude.”
Sue Patton Thoele
Quotes for Intentional Living –
Published April 16, 2012 Quotes for Intentional Living Leave a CommentTags: famous quotes, inspirational quotes, intentional living, personal change, personal growth, quotes, quotes to inspire
Quote for Intentional Living
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty,and we must rise with the occasion.
As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”
Abraham Lincoln
Change: and all the word implies.
Published April 11, 2011 Musings Leave a CommentTags: change your world, making changes, personal change, power of language, power of words, words for change
Change can be elusive and yet be right in front of us.
Check out this 2 minute story for a poignant lesson on why words can make a difference , and can change your world.
http://youtu.be/Hzgzim5m7oU
Next, begin to listen to yourself, and to others, more closely, to development an appreciation of the power of words.
Then do your best to use you words intentionally, and for helping to create a more kind and just world.
Yes, you can.
Here There Be Dragons!
Published September 27, 2010 Mental Health Issues Leave a CommentTags: fear of change, making changes, personal change
The decision to change, to journey into the unknown,
can be daunting!
It’s been said that committing to change is not unlike committing to leaving your familiar rooms and walking into a dark room every day. You can’t be sure where the people are, or even where the furniture is. You may find comfortable places and uncertain spaces. There may be welcoming arms to embrace you
and, as sailors once feared as they left sight of land, there may be dragons to face you!
If you are ready, or want to get ready to explore the possiblities in your life, then contact a qualified therapist today and set sail into a new future. And yes, the map you follow will have areas unknown and as yet unknowable, and perhaps marked with the the notation “Here there be dragons.”
Learn to slay the dragons you discover and you will be able to live your life more intentionally.
Contact a qualified therapist and begin your own journey into a new future
Promises, Promises – part 2
Published May 6, 2010 Mental Health Issues Leave a CommentTags: breaking habits, change, intentional living, making changes, personal change
Success in making personal changes means making a committment to yourself.
Here are 4 more tips to help when you decide to make a personal change in your behavior.
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Move beyond your slips. If you have a setback and haven’t acknowledged that we all can fall a step back in our efforts to change, you might feel defeated, then feel that since you’ve already been defeated there’s no point in going on. Practice being resilient rather than rigid, and re-start your change effort if you slip.
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Tell others about your goal for change. Sharing your intention with others will bring their support and encouragement, and in some cases may help to provide you alternative activities for distraction and fun.
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Savor your steps toward success. If you focus only on the long-term goal you may begin to feel as though you’re slogging across an endless wasteland of deprivation or drudgery. Try acknowledging your “baby steps” and recognizing that each step toward your goal is a success in itself.
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Understand that not everyone wants you to change. Some people in your life may be more comfortable with you the way you are, and may even subtly – or not so subtly – let you know that they may not continue to be as close to you if your persist with changing. For example, drinking buddies might start to get together without you. Be prepared to be surprised about who comes closer and who steps further away.
Making changes isn’t always easy, but by using the tips suggested in this post (and in the previous post dated May 3, 2010) you may smooth your path to the new “you.”
Promises, Promises -part 1
Published May 3, 2010 Mental Health Issues Leave a CommentTags: breaking habits, change, habits, making changes, personal change, resolutions
Success in making personal changes means making a commitment to yourself.
Whether you call it a promise, a vow, or a resolution, when you decide to make a change in how you think, feel or act, success requires that you make a serious commitment to your intended change.
Here are 4 tips for keeping your promise to yourself:
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Use positive language. Frame your goal so that it states what you will gain rather than what you will lose.
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Have a mantra. Help yourself stay motivated by adopting a short statement about why you’re making the change as a mantra to help you through the challenging moments.
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Don’t be rigid. Give yourself a short “window” time to start the new behavior. If you choose a fixed date, and miss it, then you may start, and stop, with a feeling of failure.
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Focus on the first week. Researchers say it takes 4 days to break a pattern. If you can maintain fidelity to your promise for the first week you improve your chances to maintain it over a longer time.
Being Intentional in your self-change behavior will make the challenge of changing more manageable and more fun too!
Quote for Intentional Living – 5/01/10
Published May 1, 2010 Musings Leave a CommentTags: famous quotes, inspirational quotes, personal change, personal growth, quotes, quotes to inspire
Quote for Intentional Living
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
Harriet Tubman
Got Butterflies?
Published November 5, 2009 Mental Health Issues Leave a CommentTags: change through therapy, changing yourself, making changes, personal change
The process known as metamorphosis is one of the most amazing in nature. It’s also the reason that butterflies are a symbol for dramatic and poignant personal change.
We can sometimes feel that making changes is just not worth the bother and so stall and avoid any hint of it… or conversely we may feel that things have changed without our consent and that we can barely endure the results. Still others may be diligently or even desperately searching for changes that can make their lives more fulfilled. No matter which challenge you may be facing, it’s very common that the process of change feels somewhat unsettling and uncertain. Nature constantly shows us that everything around us changes, sometimes slowly and sometimes rapidly, sometimes for the better and sometimes not. One thing we can learn from watching how it’s done in the natural world is that there is a period of stillness between states… a time of rest between bursts of activity. Witness the butterfly, once a caterpillar, that enters a cocoon between times. Then, having gathered itself to become something new, emerges to dance in the wind and seek sweet nectar.
So too you can accept that between times as you move, and morph, from one way of being to another, there must be a time of rest. And perhaps then you can be patient with yourself and others as you work toward and await the changes you will achieve. Those changes will come with time, with practicing intenti
onal living, and perhaps with help.
Break out of your cocoon, and find the nectar in your life.
Call a qualified therapist today.
Learn to open your safe- safely.
Published September 21, 2009 Mental Health Issues Leave a CommentTags: making changes, personal change, psychotherapy, small changes in therapy, therapy
“The control of our being is not unlike the combination of a safe. One turn of the knob rarely unlocks the safe. Each advance and retreat is a step toward one’s goal.” Eric Hoffer
Clients sometimes ask me, in the first therapy session, how long it will take. How long until they feel better? How long until others feel better about them? It’s also often the beginning of a client’s realization and acceptance that there are things I don’t know about them or about how therapy will work for them – and therefore the very beginning of our authentic relationship.
What comes next is something akin to, though not as simple or expressive as Eric Hoffer’s quote that opened this post. For any reader who is contemplating beginning therapy, or has just begun, there could be no more succinct nor more accurate statement about the process of psychotherapy. There is no scripted easy road to personal transformation. Finding our way to a personal awakening, a new beginning, to self forgiveness, self direction and intentional living, is not simply a movement from step A to step Z. It requires of us, client and therapist alike, that we formulate goals yet understand that not all goals are reached or reachable, that we accept some frailties as a legitimate component of the human condition, and that we have and practice the patience and courage to set a course complete with destination, yet succumb to wandering.
As you engage psychotherapy as a guide and inspiration for your personal change, remember Mr. Hoffer’s quote. Let yourself become comfortable with alternately knowing and not knowing where it will lead. Wander through your life with curiosity and the confidence that your therapist will serve as a guide.
And remember: All those who wander are not lost.
May you have a safe and enlightening journey.
