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When we wish to change aspects of our lives, often times we become overwhelmed at the seeming enormity of the task. Changing the way we think, the way we feel about life, the habitual shape and flow of our moods, and in some cases our moodiness, can seem like an impossibility. And confronted with with this seeming difficulty, it can feel easier just to give up and not do anything. Just have another cookie or watch another bad show on TV or spend another hour on Facebook.
Change, though, is not nearly as arduous as we make it out to be. Massive change, 180 degree change in our lives not only is possible, but can be relatively painless.
First, we meditate. Twice each day. This is the 'tilling of the soil,' if you will. In meditation we break up the stresses in which our patterns are grooved, and progressively we loosen the grip of habit in our day to day approach to life. It becomes ever more easy to choose those things that affirm life. But we do have to choose. This is where we may feel overwhelmed. How do I turn around a lifelong pattern? By the smallest increments.
A helpful metaphor:
An ocean liner has a huge rudder. When the ship needs to turn, the rudder itself does not need to be muscled to the correct angle; rather, the trim tabs on the trailing edge of the rudder do the work. These are much, much smaller than the rudder itself and require really very little effort to move. Without the trim tabs, even keeping the ships passage through the water straight would require constant pressure on the rudder. With the trim tabs, minute adjustments are made easily as the ship moves forward and the captain, the navigator and the helmsman can pay attention to the sea, the weather, possible hazards and the route to their eventual destination.
Like this, we can begin with the smallest changes in our behavior and know that with each passing day it will become ever easier for us to move in the direction of well-being. This is what nature intends for us. This is what nature wants for us. And as we make the most minute movement in the direction of our highest good, nature will meet us and lift us up and we will find ourselves able and willing to take the next step. And the next.
Today I will do one thing, no matter how small, that I think is in the direction God would have me move.
Cape Lookout Lighthouse, Cape Lookout, N. Carolina
Copyright © 2011 Jeff Kober
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