More on overcoming hard choices…Don’t resist
The devil is not in the detail, it’s in the denial.
Resistance is our enemy. That’s what author, Steven Pressfield tells me in his book, The War of Art.
Resistance is there any time it comes to making that first step – to meditate, take a yoga class, eat right, pursue a new career, end a relationship, pop the question, write a blog or any activity that rejects an instant fix in favour of long term growth, health or wellbeing. Put simply, any good choice we know to be good for us.
If we let it, resistance will start throwing up excuses of why we can’t, shouldn’t, won’t do what we know we need to do. Stuff like:
How to overcome making hard choices…
Part 1 …like starting a meditation practice.
Is the motivation to do what’s good for you hit and miss? You ate well all week, so tonight – what the heck, show me the ice cream…
Most of us know what’s good for us, but choosing right is hard. How so?
In Deepak Chopra’s and Rudolph Tanzi’s latest book, Super Genes, it throws up some answers.
According to my spiritual teacher, Deepak, and his genetic expert friend Tanzi, choice making it turns out is a skill. One we can cultivate and get better at to the point that eventually what we once thought was an impossibly hard choice (for us, but not necessarily everyone) becomes easy.
The secret?
Do less, achieve more.
Sound good? Here’s how.
If you’ve been spoon-fed on a menu of mantras like ‘no pain, no gain’, and ‘work hard, play hard’, you might be rolling your eyes around now at the idea of doing less and achieving more. Bear with me.
Nothing wrong with being driven, focused, consistent or passionate but stop sharpening those elbows for a second and ask yourself, how much are you forcing your way through life? And at what expense to your feelings of yumminess?
Yoga Local Launch: Rewriting our stories
Time to show up.
Everyone has a story. Our stories make us who we are and determine how we show up in life. Every day. Behind today’s launch of Yoga Local is – of course – a story. Its theme is transformation and like most stories that involve major change – it started with me (a journalist who showed up daily for 20 plus years to write stories) being stuck.
So to mark this chapter in the story of Yoga Local, let’s start with asking you the question:
Could you be stuck in your story? Do you yearn for change, success or fulfilment in some area of your life, but don’t know where to start? Have you attempted steps in the right direction, but get pulled back to the start by old habits and limiting beliefs.
Been there, done it. Still doing it (nobody’s perfect). But I’ve made some progress and I’m excited to be here at my desk writing and sharing what I’ve learned and continue to learn about the timeless teachings of Ayurveda and Yoga.
So let’s get this show on the road. Here are my top 3 steps for re-writing your story and creating your very best, ultimate, version of you.