What to do when you keep hitting the same bump!

Change can be hard work and seem daunting sometimes.

I recently spent four years working as an RN/health coach for a hospital system. I’ve had conversations about change, either one time or many, with over 3,000 humans of all shapes, sizes and colors.

I’ve learned a lot.

Here's something to consider.

Their is often a big gap between "I know” and making a change.

When we believe, "we know" their is no room for curiosity or learning something we don’t know?

And with that; we follow the lovely Einstein quote of doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

Here’s a brief example from my life:

I knew, or thought I knew that I could be healthy without eating any animal meat. And I was for a long time. And then I wasn’t. To go from being a vegetarian to a meat eater I had to re-look at my story, my beliefs and how I identified myself.

What I didn’t know was my body was really struggling and needed a quality of protein I wasn’t giving it. What I didn’t know was I wasn’t absorbing a lot of the nutrients I was eating. I didn’t know I was sensitive to gluten. I didn’t know I had an autoimmune disease. The list goes on. There was a lot I didn’t know. And believe me I thought I knew a lot about my body and taking care of it.

To not know opens the door to possibility and to a deeper awareness of self. I learned my attachment to being a vegetarian was more important than listening to my body. I learned that stress can have a huge impact.  I learned that wondering, reflecting and leaning into "not knowing" supported me to heal.

In Buddhism they call it Beginner's mind. To not know.

Take a moment right now to travel back to beginner’s mind.

What’s that habit you want to change? How you eat? How much sleep you get? Exercise? Relationship time? Being critical? Technology? Alcohol?

List what you know. Now ask yourself what don’t I know?

What am I attached to thinking and believing?

What’s the story I tell myself about changing this?

What will happen if I do change?

Start with one habit. And one question. Ask it with kindness and curiosity. Be open to learning something you didn’t know.

Lean in. Don’t know. It can be so liberating.

Truly.

To embracing change with curiosity,

Carol