Step 1 in Transforming Your Life

Step 1 is easy.

Stop!

Yup, that's it!

However it's sometimes easier said than done...

Most of us spend our lives living unconsciously. We get up. We got to work. We have good times. We have bad times. We fight with our partners. We get annoyed with the children. We have 'good' times. We have 'bad' times.

We are caught up in the joy, the stress, the anger, the laughter ... the sheer intoxicating richness of all life's emotions. Which was the plan. But we are now at a point where we are being called upon to move beyond this level of living.

Many of us are feeling this ... a raw, low-level feeling that there should be 'more'... We're unable to define what 'more' might be, so we fall into the most common, stereotypical ideas of 'more': fame, power, money, attractiveness, success...

But these, even if we attain them, seldom ease that dull background ache. In some cases they make it worse.

We are being nudged to create our lives consciously rather than unconsciously. We are being asked to become aware of ourselves; rather than remain reactive, we are being asked to become reflective so that we can choose how we respond to any given moment rather than blindly reacting.

And the way to move from being reactionary to reflective is simple. Stop. It allows us to pull back and become aware of our world, of what is happening in that moment. It allows us to refocus.

Every moment that we become aware of what we are doing, whether that's mowing the lawn, washing the dishes, fighting over the remote control, helping others heal... is a moment in the process of reawakening to our true selves. It’s a long process (remember Neo in The Matrix?) but it is an evolutionary itch that is guiding us to change long-held beliefs and patterns.

The outcome of this awakening process is nothing short of the recreation of our lives, our worlds and even our planet. But that’s the big picture: the first step is simply to stop.

By stopping we become aware of what we are doing. We are no longer sleep walking. We are stepping into a richer and more extraordinary life than we could ever have imagined while we were asleep in our own lives.

By stopping, we allow a sliver of awareness to open up with us. We give ourselves a moment to breathe, to compose ourselves, to consider what we are about to say ... to really appreciate the joy, the laughter, the smiles and winks of life.

Stopping halts the incessant chatter of the mind for a small moment and replaces it with awareness. Awareness is aligned with our inner wisdom, our creativity, our sense of humour… Indeed, awareness is the pathway to enlightenment. Or so they tell me, I’m not quite at that level yet!

But I do know this – the ability to stop, to become aware, is having a hugely transformational impact on my life. It’s eliminating much of the senseless chatter filling my thoughts and replacing it with insights, wisdom, patience and forgiveness (most frequently for myself, as I think we find it harder to forgive ourselves than we do to forgive others).

Give it go – it may not rock the universe (on the surface at least!) but it will rock your universe.