Life is a cycle of continuing changes. You can’t force change, but there are specific steps you can take to create a fertile field that will encourage positive results.
Become more self-aware
You have to know what you want. You have to know where you want to go. Take time to become more self-aware. Take time to become more reflective. Know yourself. Accept yourself. Understand yourself Begin to examine your circumstances and opportunities more closely – uncover what, how, why, who and when? What do you want? Who nourishes you? What talents do you want to develop? Knowing these answers will help you make informed choices that create the fertile environment for those changes to develop.
Enjoy the detours
Keep your mind open as you explore new options. I would never have arrived at the serenity of my current life without all the detours I’ve made in my life and the lessons I learned during my journey. I question what I discover before I decide to embrace the concept and move on, or I discard it as not being aligned with my personal path. Each time I explore a new idea I have to question the concepts I currently value. Have I grown? Have I changed? How are my circumstances different? What choices can I make that help me move in the direction I desire? You progress by consciously building on the distance you have come and the detours you made along your journey.
Learn to utilize what you discover
Studying a concept is just the beginning. Living it, learning to apply it to your daily life, makes you own it. Sometimes a word or phrase holds such intense appeal that it stops me in my tracks. They spark an idea or a question that I choose to explore more deeply. What does that mean? How do I add that to my life experience? A great deal of my writing is my way to figure out what an idea means to me and how I might embrace it. For instance, this article is written to help me figure out how I personally can build a more fertile field for positive change. Notice the ideas that call to you. Take time to figure out how you might absorb that concept in your life. Go exploring. Question what appeals to you. Select what aligns with your vision and figure out how to express it in your life.
Embrace a willingness to change
You cannot prevent yourself from changing. Change is going to happen whether you want it to or not. Begin to notice how you hang on to the old ways, keep the familiar close by, and reject anything new that shows up. Hanging on to the familiar, the past, the outdated, is hard work and only makes the natural on-going process of change more difficult. When you embrace change, when you accept change, when you are willing to let go of the safe and familiar in order to go exploring in whatever shows up, you will find unexpected insights, welcome support, and the peace that comes from allowing life to organically unfold.
Re-choose your values and principles
As you grow more experienced and become better at defining yourself, you may elevate new values and principles to guide you. “Mindfulness” is a quality I’ve often thought about along my journey, but only in the past years have I made it one of the top qualities I embrace. The principle of “unfolding” is turning my life around as I learn to let go and simply shape things as they come. What values and principles are relevant in your life today?
At every crossroads tale time to rethink
A major change always calls for a re-evaluation. When I retired, I had a difficult time redefining myself. I was no longer my business. Then who was I? How can I express my life purpose in these new circumstances? What values and qualities do I want to have at the forefront of my life for this next portion of my journey? It’s important to do some soul searching when you begin a new cycle of change to see what you have and determine what you want. There are cycles within cycles. Identify where you are and watch for the crossroads where great change is possible because of the opportunities you see and the choices you make.
Seek alignment
When you move through life with conscious awareness, the world becomes richer. You become more observant of what you say and think and do. You understand how profoundly those choices affect your life and the responses of others. When you become more aware of how you are perceived by others you discover aspects of yourself you might choose to adjust. Question your beliefs to decide if they are still meaningful and relevant to your life. Tune in to your surroundings and monitor your responses for their appropriateness. As you align yourself with your values, principles, goals and circumstance, you learn to cherish and utilize the freedom you have to choose your own destiny.
Develop self-discipline
You are the only person who can change your life. Your decisions, your choices, and your actions reflect in the life you lead today. If something is not working – change it. Self-discipline is about perseverance, resolve and determination. It is about taking small steps that move you nearer your goal. It is about finding what works for you, what you are willing to do, and wanting to achieve the final result so deeply that every choice you make keeps you moving toward it.
Cultivate your fertile field
Nurture the growth that appears in your life. Cultivate it, feed it, water it, and give it room to grow. In my fertile field, I grow more patience with my own unfolding process. I have tossed aside goals and objectives and simply allow my writing projects to unfold in their own unique time. I am more aware of how others perceive me and I continue to soften some edges. I am nurturing my body, my mind and my spirit as I add, subtract, and try out new approaches to my self-nurturing process.
Each new growth has a purpose
Are there weeds in your fertile field of change? A weed is simply a plant that is growing somewhere you don’t want it to be. What makes a weed undesirable is that it chokes off other plants, it takes over, it is more aggressive than other plants. I examine each new “plant” that grows in my field and decide where it best fits into my overall field of change. Then I transplant, or prune or discard it according to the change I want to accept in my life. What are you actively cultivating in your own field of change?
