Now is The Time

Have you been thinking about making a change? Have you been putting it off and don't know why?

Lots of changes going on in the sky. In March, Saturn has moved out of Aquarius and into Pisces for the next 3 years.

Another change is near the end of March when Pluto is moving into Aquarius for most of the next two decades. These planetary changes are said to be an excellent time for personal change and transformation.

According to the planets the time for change is now. If you are like me when it comes to making changes with myself I need all the help I can get. What is it you have put on the back burner that you would like to change? Or is there something creative or academic you would like to learn, a challenging project that you could take on?

I would like to suggest you do a little soul searching and see if you can come up with something you have wanted to transform and take advantage of the energy from these two planets to boost your chances of success.

Some of you may be thinking what is the point I have tried to make this change time and time again, what makes this time any different. It could be those exact words that have created your failed attempts in the past. Listen to the words you are saying to yourself when the subject of making changes comes up. Are they negative or positive? Adopt a winning attitude think positive, you can do this.

Let's look at what else you can use to set yourself up for success. Maybe understanding how your brain responds to change will help. I will give you a very basic description of what happens in your brain and body when you decide to make a change.

Your brain knows what it knows and it knows this from all your past experiences. It knows how to solve problems by what you did in the past, it knows what worked and what didn't work. You brain has all your past experiences and how you handled them in a data base at the ready if you need it. So when you decide to make a change it goes back into the data base and has all the information that it has stored there from your experiences and hands it to you, "here this is what you do, this is how you do it, I know it works because it worked before".

I am not sure if any of you have tried to quit something like a habit you no longer wanted to do. When you choose to quit a habit it usually involves a big change in your life.

I am going to share my example of when I quit smoking. I had tried many times in the past to quit smoking and was unsuccessful at it. My brain recalls from the past that I had tried to quit smoking and made it maybe 1 day or at the most 2 days. After the second day I am getting very uncomfortable and I want a cigarette. My brain is telling me I really want a cigarette. My brain knows that in the past the way to stop this uncomfortable feeling all I had to do was a smoke cigarette and the pain would stop.

Let's stop here and look at this I am uncomfortable I want a cigarette so bad, I want to stop the uncomfortable feeling. In the past I gave in and stopped the feeling of being uncomfortable. I no longer want to do what I did in the past, it no longer works for me, My brain is telling me go back to what you did in the past it worked then it will work now. It is getting painful I am so uncomfortable. What do I do now?

Are you getting the picture here? It's at this point of being so uncomfortable that many people do what their brain is telling them from past experience, stop the pain, have a cigarette. Fall back on what is familiar stop the pain and carry on in a world that is familiar.

Unfortunately this won't bring about the desired change. The familiar is no longer working.

There is a way to re-train or you could almost say trick your brain into believing it knows more than it knows. Act as if you are already the person you want to be or you have already made the change you want to make. Get in alignment with your desired change.

Here are 3 ways you can align yourself as if you are already the changed person.

1. Affirmations: Talk to yourself as if you already are the changed person. Write affirmations that resonate with the changes you are making. In my case it was quitting smoking so I wrote: I am a non-smoker, I am healthy, I am free, I am no longer controlled by anything. Use positive energy while saying your affirmations.

2. Visualize: Show your brain visually there is a different way. Visualize yourself being a non smoker, going to places with ease, going about your day with ease, driving with ease.

3. Take control of your thoughts: Notice when your thoughts are reverting back to the past and let them know you are no longer doing it that way you are doing it this way.

I will tell you how I got control of my thoughts. I was driving down the road and my brain kept saying, "you want a cigarette, you want a cigarette, you want a cigarette, until finally I yelled,

"Shut the heck up I am not having a cigarette, that is the way it is going to be so get used to it and leave me the heck alone. Maybe not quite that polite but you get the picture. That was 1999 and I haven't had a cigarette since, I went from a 2 pack a day to 0 a day and I know it was my little episode in the car that gave me control of my life back.

There are many ways to create the shift from negative to positive, we have created a 10 Day Happiness Challenge that you can sign up for at Happiness Challenge | Hummingbird and Owl. Also check out Ashlee's book "Transform Your Live In 40 Days".

In Light & Gratitude