55. Ready To Change? Unlock The Secret Of True Transformation
Are you feeling stuck in life? Not able to make the changes that you know you need to make? Often, we don’t make changes because we want to. We make changes because we need to. Change begins with your mindset, and this episode will show you how to use mindfulness and meditation to create the life-changing shifts your journey requires. It’s never too late to make those changes you’ve been wanting to make. Listen to unlock the barriers that are holding you back, and finally make the progress you need to make. Save this episode so you can come back to it any time you’re feeling stuck and blocked with your progress.
MINDFUL ACTION: Notice how it feels when you’re excited and ready for a change versus when you’re hesitant and unsure about a change. How does it feel in your mind and body? Journal it out to help you identify the common barriers that appear for you.
WEEKLY MANTRA: I open my mind and I open my heart to new possibilities.
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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: CREATING CHANGE
0:04
Hey everyone, I am so glad to be back. I am feeling rested and refreshed, and I’ve had so much time to meditate and reflect on things while I was gone, even getting to meditate on the beach a few times. And I have tons of new stuff to throw at you this spring. I hope you are ready. But today, I want to talk about our ability to change or not to change that. Build the question. When are we ready to accept change?
0:37
Welcome to mindful actions. I’m Beth Backes. And I’ll be your host as we traveled to the center of your universe. Mindful actions is here for you. We focus on one simple action every week that you can incorporate into your everyday life with mindfulness and meditation. While listening to mindful actions, I want you to feel a light ignited within you to be more confident, balanced and free to live the way that you were meant to live, mindful actions, act with intention, live with purpose.
1:17
The thing I want to tackle today about change is readiness. If you were closed minded, well, actually, I don’t really want to use that term closed minded because it has a negative connotation. So instead, what we say, if you’re hesitant about change, yeah, but feels like a much more normal emotion surrounding it. So if you are hesitant to change, and you are not prepared to accept how something could change your life, there’s an argument that there’s no point in even trying, you won’t get anything out of it. And you have to be careful if you try something before you’re ready, because you could tarnish your perception of it, making it impossible for you to try it again in the future, when you may actually be ready at that point. But you just have this bad taste in your mouth surrounding it, and you want to have nothing to do with it.
Some of you might be thinking, though, but Beth, what about that saying about how successful people try something before they’re ready, because you’ll never actually be ready. So you just have to do it. The thing that sets successful people apart from non successful people in trying new things, is the mindset, mindset mindset mindset. If you jump into something before you’re ready, but you are going all in and you have your life jacket in one hand, and you have a paddle in the other hand, and you trust the people on the boat with you, and you believe in what you are trying to do that is where the real change occurs. That is how you sail off into success.
But there is a huge, huge, huge difference between jumping into something that you believe in, versus jumping into something too soon, because somebody else told you to do it. You see this a lot when someone is addicted to something, and they’re trying to give it up. Sometimes it takes multiple tries to give up whatever they’re trying to give up the first few attempts, maybe they’re not convinced that they can even do it. Or maybe they weren’t convinced that they needed to do it at all. They weren’t ready to commit yet. And that’s okay. It sucks. It sucks so much. Sometimes when we can’t let go of that thing that we need to let go of, but it’s okay. You cannot force anybody to do anything. If they’re not ready, the same thing goes for yourself. Here’s the thing about change.
Oftentimes in life, you change because you have to not necessarily because you want to, which says something about our strength and our determination, when we actually commit to something, change is harder than continuing to stay the same. You’re choosing the harder route when you choose to change. So when somebody changes, it holds a deep, deep meaning in their life. They didn’t do it just for fun, they didn’t do it just because they were bored. They did it because they had to, they had to change if they wanted to live a different life, they had to change if they wanted to move forward, they had to change if they were not happy with their current situation, we often don’t choose to change, we do it because it’s necessary. And this can be about anything, it can be big or small. It doesn’t have to be a life altering event. It can simply be maybe from switching from white bread to wheat bread. It’s still something that you have to commit to. But again, if you’re not buying into it, what’s the point? Why are you even trying it because it’s just gonna feel like a failure.
The next time that you’re faced with change, and you want to change something, think about your level of involvement. And if you are all in and if you know that this is the right time for you, and if it’s not, that’s another point for evaluation. What would it take for you to get to be all in what would it take for you to really believe in the need to make this change? This is where meditation and
5:00
journaling can come in handy because you can sit there and you can just write out all of your thoughts. And you can better understand where your barriers are and what you’re hesitant about and why you’re hesitant about it. Because change is a big jump, it is a big jump. And it’s something that you have to be ready to do, and you have to be willing to do it. And so just take something small that you want to change and see if it feels different from something big that is holding you back, see where the difference is between when you feel all in on something. And when you feel hesitant, what is that feeling inside of you that is holding you back. And I hope that the meditation today really helps with that we’re going to do a meditation on opening up your mind and accepting new things. And you can use this meditation anytime that you are feeling one of these change barriers.
The mantra that we are going to recite in the meditation today is I opened my mind and I opened my heart to new possibilities. So I encourage you to bookmark or save this episode or the meditation once it’s posted on YouTube, that you can come back to any time that you are facing change or you’re feeling a barrier or feeling held back. And you just need a little bit of a motivation to help you open your mind and help you to accept new things that are coming your way. Or you can use this episode to also help you to identify what’s holding you back. So please just save this episode come back to it whenever you need. And I hope that this meditation helps to push you forward a little bit more.
In a quick side note, sometimes a break and a vacation can really help with that. I have a lot of changes coming your way with things that I have been reflecting on what over my break the past couple of weeks. And they’re really cool things and I was just blocking these thoughts in my brain before because I was on a mission. And I you know I had my timeline, I had my plan, and I was afraid to deviate off of it. So sometimes you just gotta take that break and then you will be able to allow the change to happen. So with that, let’s go ahead and relax a little bit and we’ll get into our meditation on opening our mind and acceptance.
MEDITATION SCRIPT FOR AN OPEN MIND
Our meditation today is focusing on opening your mind and welcoming all the thoughts that you have. Too often, we tuck thoughts away or stop ourselves from thinking certain things to try to protect us. Today we’re just going to let it flow. There are no good thoughts or bad thoughts. There are just thoughts and ideas running loose in our heads.
Begin by finding a comfortable and quiet place to sit or lie down. Take a deep breath in through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth. Allow your body to relax and release any tension.
Focus on your breath. Inhaling for 4 counts and exhaling for 6 counts.
In, 1-2-3-4
Out, 1-2-3-4-5-6
Repeat
Visualize a door in your mind that represents your mind and your thoughts. Imagine yourself standing in front of this door. It is closed. You are temporarily blocked off from what is inside the door. Take a moment to see how it feels to be behind the closed door.
When you are ready, take a deep breath in and as you exhale, imagine yourself opening the door. Visualize the door swinging open to reveal a bright and spacious room. You are flooded with light now that you have opened the line of communication. This room represents your mind when it is open and ready to receive new ideas and experiences.
As you step into the room, take a deep breath in and allow yourself to feel calm and at ease. Take a moment to just be here now. Observe any thoughts that come up and acknowledge them without judgment or criticism.
Practice acceptance by allowing your thoughts to come and go without holding onto them. As you continue to practice acceptance, imagine yourself becoming more open and receptive to new ideas and experiences. Visualize yourself expanding your mind and becoming more aware of the world around you.
Our mantra for this week is:
I open my mind and I open my heart to new possibilities.
I open my mind and I open my heart to new possibilities.
I open my mind and I open my heart to new possibilities.
Focus on our breath one more time by inhaling for 4 counts and exhaling for 6 counts.
In-1-2-3-4 / Out-1-2-3-4-5-6
In-1-2-3-4 / Out-1-2-3-4-5-6
When you are ready to end the meditation, take a deep breath in and exhale slowly. Imagine yourself closing the door to your mind, knowing that you can always open it again when you are ready.
Take a moment to thank yourself for taking the time to practice this meditation and for being open to new experiences and ideas. When you are ready, slowly open your eyes and return to your day feeling calm, centered, and ready for whatever comes your way.
Peace, love, Om.
