Secrets of Change
Yoga Leaks
Meet Change. See, not so scary. The one thing that is constant in life is change. You’d think we’d be cool with it by now.
Like any good relationship, Change just needs a little seducing - until she can't imagine life without you. Total mental health, right there! BAM!
I happened to take notes while I stalked Change for the better part of my adult life. Here’s the scoop: Change has a lover. She goes by the name of Organization. They have a lovechild – 3 of them actually: Determination, Discipline, and Perseverance. Their family moonlights as the Tsars of our dreams. News to you, right?!
As comfortable as I am with change , I’ll never be one of the great organizers of the universe, despite my presidential airs. I’m clunky and awkward, a tomboy in heels. My ways of getting organized might err on barbaric compared to beautiful Virgoan filing systems and computer apps. I like to use chalk on brick walls, old fingernails and dirt dampened down with saliva, notebook and pencil if people are watching.
This is Change's lover, Organization. Changing diet, in my opinion, is the change that we should make closest to the lovers and their three braniac children. You will need the power that this family has to offer! Eating is functional and powerful, but also emotional. It’s directly connected to our mental health. A new diet has to be emotionally engaging as well as nutritionally rich if there’s a chance the diet will stick.
I went from a meat-and-potatoes diet to vegan overnight. But that was nothing compared to taking on The Zone Diet as a vegan. It was the 90’s, glycemic Indexes were new. This diet promised the holy grail of high energy output and low fat production.
The 3 lovechildsSince I was a fitness industry leader at the time, I felt obliged to try it. It did what it promised by the way. The Zone Diet, however, is such a giant leap outside normal habits of eating, great organization is required to get past breakfast on the first day.
The key to my success: an exercise book filled with notes. 7 different breakfasts, 7 lunches and 7 dinners, delicious snacks and notes on various foods or combinations. It accompanied me and my many containers of ‘back-up’ food (Sacred Meal) everywhere.
Failure (noun). Being caught with your pants down
The first days of a change are studied and awkward. You know the Lincoln saying about spending most of the time sharpening the axe and a fraction of the time actually attending to the task at hand. Preparation will determine how likely (and gracefully) you succeed.
If we stay focused on the change it will stick; like grafting a two saplings together. Dragging a notebook around, turning down social events because it’s still too ‘random’ to enjoy wont be forever.
A journey of a thousand miles begins beneath our feet
You can be making the biggest change in the world. But really all you are doing is breathing, one breath at a time. You can quit smoking, go to rehab, change genders, stop beating people up, stop beating yourself up. Once you commit to the change, your story still comes down to breathing through the hours and days. It’s banal in its daily life, and profound when you think of the actual change you’re making.
Sharpen your axe. Do your research and organize. Make your life as routine as possible when you commit to your change.
This amazing dish, by the way, is vegan leak soup with floating salad on a chickpea bowl cracker, made by the awe-inspiring vegan Superfood Chef Michelle. Bright colours and life energy in vegan food is unparalleled.
Summary
Get organized. Have the tools you need to make the change.
Make a check list, mark a calendar, keep a diary – keep on top of your progress.
Everything will settle. Soon there will be limes on top of your lemon tree and you can go tell the Tsar family that their noses look like aliens. Unless you’re mad like I am and go in for another round of grafts and saliva-made mud. Exercise books if you’re around.
It's crazy fun once you get the hang of it.
Reader Comments (3)
How true it is with that Tsar family. Best we bribe them with treats and walkies so we can get on with our wonderful evolving lives.
If my cooking looked like that every day, there would be absolutely no issue with making my change stick! So to follow my own logic, the thing that stands between me and what I want to do differently is killer cooking skills.
Change is so hard for me. I go kicking and screaming, and that's just if they change the night's TV programming. When you said it's just breathing, that really helped. I always focus on what the change means and how the change screws everything up (potentially). It's time to accept that change is a part of life and I can stop fighting it now. And breathe. Thank you Pres.