How to Embrace Change With An Open Heart

 

It's a new season and a new month, but no matter what day of the week or month of the year it is, it can be a season of growth for you. 

The sun is setting a little earlier each day and the leaves have released their brilliance and blown away on the chilly winter wind. Pretty soon, the holidays will be upon us. 

As the season shifts from the gorgeous autumn colour to the final season of the year, it comes with a quiet invitation for us to transform. 

Change is a challenge for all of us.

Until we settle into new routines, it can feel messy and uncomfortable. 

Change, however, can also bring gifts: A chance to grow. 

We can't grow without change. Take a second to reflect back on a big change that happened in your life.

At the time, you may have felt it was the end of something when really, it turned out to be the beginning of something new and exciting.

Maybe even something better.

We all go through difficult circumstances and overcome challenges large and small, transformations that affect us deeply. 

• We worry (who doesn't have some things to worry about these days?)
• We're disappointed
• We feel hopeless
• We feel inadequate or ill-equipped
• We wish for a different boss, different circumstances, a different body

We may even wish for a different life.

If we want to expand in any way, become stronger, kinder, braver, more fit and healthy, and live more authentically and true to our passions and purpose, we must create space for change to happen, and for growth to occur. 

Here's how to embrace change and start fresh with an open heart so you can BECOME all you're meant to. 

Embrace Painful Past Experiences With Gratitude

You can have a heartwrenching story from your past that caused deep sorrow, anger, frustration, or pain...without letting it affect your present.

The thing about that past experience is exactly that. It's over. It's NOT happening now. 

If it's something that still causes you pain, recognize it for what it is - a painful situation from your past.  

Next, do your best to change your emotional response to it:

• Bring your attention to the present and recognize all the positives around you
• What were the valuable lessons you could take from that experience?
• Write them down
• Reflect on them in your meditations or personal journal. What did you learn?

Shift your thinking about that negative experience to one of gratitude. Without that experience, you wouldn't be the amazing, strong, resilient person you've become. 

Focus On What's Within Your Control

So yes, a global pandemic has thrown us off our game and we're still very much feeling the effects of COVID.

And much has changed because of it.  Many of us are still grieving and recovering since we've suffered losses, sadness, and frustrations about what's completely out of our control.

You may be thinking, “What's happening around us is a horrible nightmare!" 

Despite the global pandemic, outbreak of war in Ukraine, shocking violence - and all that comes with those devastations, not everything is beyond our control. 

In fact, there's plenty we can do something about. 

We can choose to invest our energies in the things that matter most to us. 

• Love, hope, and compassion have not been postponed, closed, or canceled
• We are free to make choices about our family, our health, our self-care
• We can dream, explore, learn and grow

Consider all that you do have within your control - even during these difficult times and then refuse to allow life’s difficulties to cloud your vision or steal away your hope, or your motivation to DO what you need to do. 

Ask Yourself: 

1. What do you have to do to stay healthy? 
2. What do you have to do to help your loved ones stay healthy? 
3. How can you find more balance of mind, body, and soul?

Free your mind by accepting what you can't control. Focus instead on doing the very best you can with what you do have control over. 

When we think better about our circumstances, we live better in spite of them.

Choose A Fresh Response

Regardless of the circumstances, how we respond is entirely our choice. 

Our emotional intelligence is incredibly valuable and how you choose to respond to a situation can affect the overall outcome - and even change a negative situation into a positive one.

Every time you're tempted to react to something: 

1. Pause for a few seconds
2. Take a few cleansing breaths and 
3. Create space for a healthy change of state or for a solution to come forward.

Ask yourself: 

• How can I respond from a place of strength or grace today?
• What would be the very best way to achieve a positive outcome?
• What can I say or do to make the situation improve?

Consciously redirect your focus from something unchangeable or beyond your control to some small and actionable measure you can take or words you can say that will move you forward in a positive way or improve the situation.

The greatest weapon against pain, anger, and frustration is your ability to pause, breathe, and choose your next move - make it a positive one. 

You can train your mind to make the very best of what you have to deal with or manage, even when it’s not what you'd have wished for. 

RIGHT NOW is THE perfect time to make it a priority to learn and grow a little bit every day by creating positive, healthy habits and sticking to them. 

Start small. Pick something new. Add it to your schedule and practice it daily until it becomes a part of your routine. 

Life gets better when we get better at processing it, responding to it in the best way possible, and continuing to strive forward, overcome, and grow. 

Your Turn Now

I'd love to hear from you. 

• What change are you facing right now?
• What transformation would you like to make?
• Which one of these strategies will you try? 

Leave your comments below.

A Gift For You

And I have a gift for you: 

If committing to a new self-care regimen is on your 'To-Do' list, contact me directly at andrea@coachforlife.ca for your Free Guide: Love Yourself More ~ Finding Balance of
Mind~Body~Soul for the 'Too Busy' Woman. 

I'll send a free copy along to you.

About the Author:

Andrea Raco is a Certified Success and Life Enrichment Coach, Founder of Coach for Life, Creative Wordsmith at The Copy Doc, and the Curator of Gold Key Club ~ a private community for Ladypreneurs, Supermoms, and Sisters making a difference in the world. She'd be delighted if you'd join her FREE community. Request membership to Gold Key Club.

For more information about her programs and services, visit www.coachforlife.ca or connect on Facebook.