Hi. It wasn't sudden.

Just as we tend to overlook our gradual, incremental improvements, we can also be blind to the subtle, almost gentle, decline of our health, vitality, energy, and overall physique. (You may substitute marriage, job, relationships, fitness, etc.)

It's how things work.  Everything in life is an evolution.  Are you evolving in a direction you're excited to continue?

Starting fresh

The wonderful thing about evolution is that once you become aware of it, you can participate more fully with its course.  It is never too late to reroute evolution in a direction that inspires you.  Even when faced with cancer or heart disease, many intervene to reclaim their lives.  A fresh start.

Begin today.

Generally about twice a year I do a 3-Day cleanse/fast for my body and it never ceases to amaze me how incredible it feels to rest and rebalance my body.  In the world of "stuffing 20 lbs of stuff in a 10 lb. bag" we could go on at breakneck speed forever.  Personally, I'd rather choose when to re-set an area of life than to hit saturation point and be forced into it (i.e. severe illness, risk of divorce, job loss, etc.).  So twice a year I rest and refresh my digestive system which impacts my skin, energy, emotions, mental clarity and more.  Fresh start.

Incremental steps

In the same way that you gradually moved into your undesired direction, you can ease onto a new course.  In a world of "I want it now!" we're much more accustomed to "push" and "hard," than gentle, slow, and simple.  However, it is an ideal opportunity to cultivate patience, gratitude, gentleness.  

You need not turn your life upside down to make a fresh start. Choose one area of life, one thought, one behavior, one ritual and begin small.  I love the idea of thinking big, however, it can cripple us when it feels like too much.  Break it down.  Rebuild your faith in yourself by completing small steps.  Restore your integrity with your body, your word, your relationship, your food.  Whatever it is for you, start small and steady.  I don't care if you've had the same habit for 30 years.  Are you going to allow your past to become your future?  Start again.

Simple

How many times do we freeze up because we script a whole movie-of-the-mind about how something is going to turn out? "If I do this, then that, that, that are going to happen and I'll never get where I want to go."  Uh, really?  Quiet the inner drama queen and choose simple steps.  To have a healthy body one might think there's a complicated solution, whether a pill, specific books and techniques or investing a lot of money.  Simple solution: Eat healthy, vibrant foods.  Get enough sleep.  Exercise. Minimize stress. Express yourself. Hug. Drink water. It's annoyingly simple.

Resist the temptation to over-complicate your fresh start.  Make it grammer-school simple.  Of late, I'd been having fatigue, dizziness and a variety of other "symptoms" that were starting to alarm me.  After some research, an eye exam, and blood work, nothing.  I was having a cranial sacral therapy session with my practitioner Elizabeth, when she commented on a book that she was reading about breathing disorders.  What we discovered is that I wasn't breathing fully.  I'd gotten into the habit (except for during yoga), of taking shallow breaths in my chest, rather than full breaths into my diaphragm.  Result: a version of mild hyperventilation (all day long when I was busy), resulting in a variety of significant symptoms. 

Embarrassingly simple.  Um, breathe.  I've also adding "sit down and be quiet", and that seems to help a lot too.

Simple.

Please choose an area of life that feels compelling to you.  Compelling in a way that you look forward to the results of your steps, rather than in an "I should do this or I'll probably die soon" way.  But whatever you need for motivation is fine.

So on this day, when New Year's Resolutions are either in full force or starting to lose their sparkle, embrace a fresh start.  Start putting "Fresh start" in your day-planner and choose another part of life to rebalance every so often.