START. (How to make lasting changes)
April 6, 2011 | 15 Comments
When it comes to creating real change in your life, there is only one action item that is critical. The most brilliant organizational strategies and profound insights into human behavior are 100% meaningless without it. If you are not doing this one thing, nothing else matters. I’m not being poetically licentious; I’m telling you the truth. That thing? Start.
Begin. Commence. Initiate. Leap. Whether you want to become a meditator, artist, CEO, friend, athlete, or simply the best you of all time, you just have to take the very first step. What is that step? Write it down. Then do it. Don’t worry about the step after that.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Forget about sweeping gestures–they’re irrelevant and confusing 95% of the time. Instead, make small, graceful, clear gesture after gesture. This is the way.
And PS here is the key piece of advice on starting: you have to do it all over again tomorrow. And the next day. Every day, in fact.
Starting is a sacred act. It requires opening without knowing what is going to happen. If you “know” how it’s going to go or what is going to result, you’re actually somewhere in the middle, not the beginning. So give up all notions. Turn toward this very moment. Open your heart to yourself, your day, your loved ones and your enemies–which simply means not having preconceived notions about any of it–and then start.
categorized in: meditation, open heart project
15 Comments
Wonderful post, Susan, and so TRUE! Nothing gets done without starting. And making changes is hard, so we tend to procrastinate and put things off cuz it’s scary. You’re so right about those little steps, one day at a time, day after day. Thanks for the encouragement!
Thank you, Ursula. Wishing you all the blessings of small gestures. xo S
Brilliant, Susan. So well written and so very true. Thank you for all the inspiration you pack in this post. I’m tweeting it far and wide, yes I am!
Julica, thank you!! This means a lot. xo S
Thank you Susan for this post. I have read your books…how not to be afraid of your own life and wisdom of a broken heart and have since become a meditator. What you say is so true…every day you just have to start at the beginning in that moment. (still reading these two books…open at a random page and just read every night. Has changed me and my life for the better. I feel my heart has opened. Thank you.)
Thank you. You can’t know how inspiring it is for me to receive a message like yours. Wishing you fearlessness in all things! xo S
you are welcome. it’s you who is inspiring. don’t stop!
Nothing I didn’t already know but transfixed by how beautifully you expressed this concept! In love with your site and the energy it (you) emanate!
Thank you, Tia! Nice to know you, too.
What a wonderful way you have of breaking down the resistance to change! Great post! I write a mental health blog at http://www.seattletherapist.wordpress.com
Thanks, Tanya.
Today I am going to start (finally!) earnestly applying for a grad program in Sussex. This post lifted from my chest the anxiety of FINISHING. Of course! All I need to do is START. And start again and again. Boy what a fantastic paradigm shift! Thanks Susan!! much love.
Love this!
In appreciation….