It’s been pretty full on lately. We’ve celebrated the Aussie spirit on our national day of remembrance, we’re excitedly on royal baby watch and we’ve been shocked by the earthquake in Nepal.
And sometimes life seems like there is so much going on, that everything is swirling around us like a fast moving stream, and we, we’re just a bit overwhelmed, and so, we, go with the flow. We nod sympathetically half-listening to our friends, we cook on auto pilot for our family, we don’t even really remember the drive home from work, but we got here somehow! Ever feel like that? That you’re just going with the flow? Sort of just, existing? I’ve been there. We all have days like that. But weeks? If you have weeks on end of going with the flow, maybe you need a lightning bolt.
My lightning bolt came in the way of a ‘lightbulb’ moment a couple of years back. One day I had a stirring thought just pop into my head. Unprovoked. Well, at least consciously unprovoked. And it was this…
“As human beings we have the ability to change our minds whenever we want to.”
Rather profound, no?! Well, it wasn’t intended to be, I can assure you. It was probably more of a self-pacifying mantra at the time. But it manifested. And it became a liberating thought.
Not so much in the way that I exercised that feeling I’m sure we’ve all had before, and acted on a whim — spontaneously throwing my car keys off a bridge, or diving right into that pile of autumn leaves (!), but, in the same vein of action. Of movement. Of will.
One day. We are born in one day. We die in one day. So much can happen in one day. We can change in one day. And our future can change in one day. It might be sobering, but it’s true.
We’re not stuck. Regardless of our circumstances there is always something that we could do differently to improve our situations if we made up our minds to do so. Write that CV. Quit your job! Make the move. Stick up for yourself. Start that business. Speak up about that promotion, or apply for that dream role.
The Dalai Lama believes that happiness begins in our minds, and I’m inclined to agree. Ever heard the saying ‘you are about as happy as you make up your mind to be’?
Well, what would happen if you kick-started a new story for yourself that started with ‘One day I…’? Hypothesize the possibilities if the leap is too much for today.
Just make the leap, one day.