I was so scared that day……..

The date was October 24, 2014 and my hands were trembling as I opened the double glass doors which would lead me inside of the gym that would become a vital part of my life.  At the time I didn’t know that. I knew I needed to do something to get in shape, I had let myself go for too long.  Most of my life I had kept in pretty good shape, but life led me to move away from that and I just turned 48 and didn’t feel good about life, I needed to get back in shape. I made the decision to commit for 60 days straight and see what happened.  I opened the door, walked in and my life started to change in a good way.  I did my 60 days, then 100, then 200 and continue to this day. I don’t workout every day, but most days I do. I have been able to build muscle, and lose fat and feel better now than I did at any point in my life.  It was the challenge of starting something new I needed to get over and once I did that and changed my personal paradigm fitness has been a part of my life and it made me look at the rest of my life to see where I could make some changes. I had to learn to accept new things in life and add them to the things I had known.

Seeking Different Things

New experiences come to us all the time, that is the spice that life gives us.  New people, places, situations, and thoughts can come to us at any moment and will always be available to us in order to allow us to move along the path of life. All lives are going to have new things in them, just as the child moves from first to second grade and eventually graduates from our educational system, so are the new things life put there to push you to learn what you need to know in order to become the best version of yourself.  Of course, we have to be willing to accept them and work with them in order for these things to provide us with all the positives we deserve. There is an art in adding the new things in the world to the things already known. Developing this skill will make you an A student at life, so let’s look at new things and see where we stack up today.

Some Positive Steps

The past is a tricky location to visit because the only way to get there is in your mind. Our minds tend to have a fuzzy recall when it comes to remembering things. We tend to focus on the positive and forget the negative. When new things come into your life we should view the past from a supportive perspective.  Don’t let the past limit you and dismiss new experiences out of hand.  Focus on the visible evidence in front of you right now to build reinforcement for the new pattern of life that you have a chance to grow from right now.  Self-reflection in a positive manner where you use true examples available to reinforce the new learning experience.  This is where you connect the new to the known in your mind.

It is important to do this connecting without bias, because often the ego we construct in our mind, pushes all things that have a remote chance of providing pain out of the way. Try to let each experience stand on its own and provide its own lesson. Evaluate the value of a new connection, activity, or thought on the merits it actually provides you and not the ones you perceive them to contain. By doing this you make all of the experiences real, factual things and avoid exercises in wishful thinking and fantasy.

Change is Real

You will really start to accept the new and tie it to the known in your life by creating an anchor to your feelings with real examples. A foundation of knowledge already exists in each of us and some things have been proven true. Attaching the new experiences to the known by making them the next logical or sensible step in the progression of your experience.

Use your power of refection to create these connections. I am sure there are some people who can create these connections organically with little effort. I am not one of them. It requires my time to look for and recognize the connections I have with the new and the known.  All time spent in contemplative thought is an opportunity to become a better, more productive person in all facets of life.  How does what I already know, apply to the new situation? What new skills do I need to create and develop?

Taking time to identify the knowledge and experience you already have and deploying it in a new way is how we grow.  This is a skill that can be applied to any new thing and the connections between the new and the known become stronger. It is also a skill to correctly identify the people who might help you with understanding the new or to support you through the changes.

In a work situation, a mentor is an invaluable resource to help guide you.  How better to learn the answers then from someone who has already taken the test. Your journey will be unique and you have to develop the skills to survive, but there is nothing wrong with learning from someone who has been there and done that before. Properly identifying the good assets from the bad is a skill and will impede or speed up your development of connecting the new to the known is the result. But the most important coach you will ever know is the one that is inside of you. Look to your instinct to help guide you through all of these things.

The Best is There for You

When you look at the new things you are creating in your life, it will begin in your imagination. Some will tell you to write it down over and over again like a magic spell, but I don’t think it’s necessary. All you need to do is to create a vision of what you want and to follow it.  You don’t need to waste time trying to convince yourself that you deserve the new, better experience, you just need to take action steps toward the new and by accepting into the already established patterns of life. You will replace old patterns and programming in your mind that don’t provide any value for you anymore, with new thoughts, actions, and people in your life.  It is natural and understanding to experience fear at the beginning of any new thing. Action will overcome fear every time, whether you are starting a new workout routine, a new job or a new relationship.  Move forward. Take your new experiences and integrate them with the things already known.

“You know how creative people are, we have to try everything until we find our niche.” ― E.A. Bucchianeri

“When you make the decision to start something new, first figure out the jobs you want to do. Then position yourself to play where no one else is playing.” ― Whitney Johnson

“I realized something on the ride. I realized if I wait until I’m not scared to try new things, then I’ll never get to try them at all.” ― Marie Sexton