…your comfort zone and an easy trick!

It’s hard to change because of our comfort zone, right? Well, maybe not! I have a trick for making NEW habits you might find useful. It works for me!

Your Comfort Zone

I’m sure you’ve heard about comfort zones? The feeling of being right where you want to be, not because it’s necessarily good for you, but because it’s familiar…and we don’t like change huh? Even the most change-happy, adventurous folks, will still have their favourite spoon, a way of packing for that wild adventure, or a particular way they make a cup of tea. Even the bravest people may still have the habit of choosing a particular toilet cubicle (something I talked about a few years ago…it’s the second one, am I right? Oh, unless you’re doing a poo, then it’s the furthest from the door) (sorry, where was I? Ah yes, habits…)

What they told us

The theory is that we love our comfort zone so much, it means habits are hard to change. Meaning that any behaviour change we want to make is going to involve a mighty upheaval of what we’re familiar and comfortable with.
You might have reacted, as I did, by recognising that feeling of resistance to change and believing any change will be tough and unpleasant, even the ones that are good for us.

It doesn’t have to be that way!

Except it’s not quite like that, not really. Think back to a time when you made a change and said afterwards “Well it wasn’t as hard as I thought!”. This can happen when the change is something that moves you from an unhealthy or unhelpful habit, to a new one. As you might expect, as it’s me, the trick in making habit changing easy, is all in the mind.

Watch this video for a few seconds and then I’ll explain this habit changing trick to you…

Impressive?

I was impressed!

I saw this on video, then watched my yoga teacher and thought, wow, that’s how it’s supposed to be done. I also knew it wasn’t something I’d be able to do. Being nearly 53. And not very fit. Or bendy.

SHOCK!

It was a great shock to me, one morning, I was doing my now regular morning yoga practice (there’s another example right there, thought I’d never get back into that!) and at the point where I normally do the modified version of that jump back – slowly stepping back, one foot at a time – I pictured being able to just jump…AND I DID!
The trick is less about what I needed to do and more about what I needed to STOP doing.

The Trick

I noticed that when regularly doing this new (to me) form of yoga, there were many moves that I knew I just wouldn’t be able to do. But one morning, eager to do more ‘practising what I preach’, I decided instead of thinking ‘Oh this is the one I’ll never be able to do’ instead I thought ‘This is the one I can’t do yet‘.
In thinking this way, I freed myself up to feel like I was heading towards it. Now, at that time, it just felt less negative and helped me feel empowered and positive during the session.
I WASN’T expecting it to free my mind AND my body to actually attempt the jump.
There are, of course, moves that I really, really, really will never be able to do. Not with my genes!
This one is not a huge thing to be able to do. But it was to me!
Once I no longer ‘knew’ I couldn’t do it, I just did it.

Bees

Someone once said the same about bumble bees; according to physics, they shouldn’t be able to fly. But nobody told the bees, so they just fly. Actually they flap, and use wind very cleverly.  They have big bodies and tiny wings (bit like me!) They use the best of what they have (bit like me, once I realised I might).

Call Pickford’s, it’s time to move!

If you spend your time wishing you could change something for a better way and you feel the pull of your comfort zone, stopping you, no wonder you don’t make the change.
To all the messages you’ve seen about “Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone!! Have courage!!’…I say
“NO!”
You don’t have to leave your comfort zone. Take it with you, like a snail moving house.

Picture This

Think back to times when you thought you’d struggle to do a new thing and then it was ok. You might remember being sure it would feel strange, uncomfortable and unpleasant. Then you realised; actually you were still in your comfort zone, just doing or having a different thing.
Have a go, imagining just what it might be like to be healthier, wealthier, fitter, get a new talent or move house or job. Imagine what it would be like if you felt the comfort zone you feel now, but with something new and fabulous in your life too.
I’d love to hear how that goes!

Have a week full of possibilities sweetness! Everything you want can be in your comfort zone too!

Big love,
Pam x