Recently, after several demanding months dealing with the kind of unexpected challenges life throws us from time to time, I got to thinking, “I need a reset! I’m going to pick a date and just make a totally fresh start.” Just thinking that, I started to feel relieved already; I couldn’t wait to leave those grueling months behind.
But as an expressive and healing arts facilitator specializing in awareness training, I couldn’t help but notice my feeling of emphatic rejection of that difficult time. I never again wanted to have such a draining, stressful experience! That’s the energy of resistance.
Understandable. But what if that resistance actually makes that “fresh start” reset harder to achieve? “What we resist persists.” Resistance blocks flow toward something new.
So what’s the best way to do a reset that increases energy flow instead of blocking it by resisting the past? Gratitude, love and celebration are some of the highest energies we can experience. Is there a way to “hit the reset button” that celebrates the experience we’ve weathered and uses it for positive change instead of judging, rejecting and discarding it?
Every experience in life - especially the “hard” ones - contributes to who we are and helps us grow. So why waste energy resisting them after they’re over? They’re as much a part of us as our easy successes!
The answer I came up with is the following 7 Step Process. Use it whenever you decide to do a “reset” to make a fresh start after a challenging period in your life:
Be grateful for the experience you are leaving behind, and the life lessons, resilience and wisdom it brought out in you.
Release any negative judgments about the experience or how you handled it Just honor yourself for getting through it, and for learning whatever you learned.
Make 2 lists, of "Need To Do" and "Want To Do" goals. Include everything, from organizing a drawer to climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Be sure to create and commit to both lists...the first is about giving and the second about receiving; to keep from becoming drained or detached, keep them in balance.
Circle the top 3 priorities on each of your lists, break them down into small achievable tasks, and post those in your calendar with due dates. Mark significant milestones in the calendar as well.
Create a vision board for how you see 2018 unfolding, and schedule time daily to meditate, visualizing yourself completing your tasks and milestones.
Ask people in your life to support you in being accountable for doing what you say you’ll do.
Pay attention to whatever fears you have, and any pain or other body sensations you feel. Notice if they are they keeping you from moving forward.
To reset - mentally, emotionally, physically or spiritually - following a conscious process, celebrating instead of resisting the past, and being held accountable are the keys to releasing the old and moving forward into the new!